\ 


THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES  OF 
LIFE  AND  EDUCATION 


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A.  C.  McCLURG  AND  CO. 
CHICAGO. 


THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES 


OF 


LIFE  AND  EDUCATION 


BY 

J.   L.  SPALDING 

J3tsl)op  of 


Hope  like  a  star  gleams  in  the  breast 

Of  him  who  labors  without  rest, 

In  Truth's  sweet  service  and  in  Love's 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG  AND   COMPANY 
1897 


COPYRIGHT 
BY  A.  C.  MCCLURG  AND  Co. 

A.D.    1897 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES 7 

II.    THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES \45 

III.  THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES  ......  91 

IV.  THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES 132 

V.    BOOKS 165 

VI.  THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  SCHOOL  .  .  .  209 


OF 
UHIV.T 


THOUGHTS   AND   THEORIES 

OF 

LIFE    AND    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THOUGHTS  AND  THEORIES. 

When  the  rose  is  fair  it  makes  the  garden  fair, 
When  the  soul  is  fair  its  beauty  all  may  share. 

IN  the  course  of  ages  there  have  been  a  few 
in  whose  company  it  is  possible  to  think 
high  thoughts  in  a  noble  spirit;  but  there  has 
been  and  is  but  one  with  whom  it  is  possible  to 
lead  the  life  of  the  soul  and  feel  that  it  is  like 
the  life  of  God,  —  he  is  the  Master,  Christ  Jesus, 
who  alone  makes  us  understand  and  realize  that 
God  is  our  Father,  and  that  our  business  on 
earth  is  to  grow  into  the  divine  image  by  right 
loving  and  doing.  To  know  God  is  to  transcend 
the  contradictions  and  dark  mysteries  of  human 
existence,  and  to  taste  the  pure  joy  and  peace 
which  children  feel  when  their  father  is  near. 


8  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

So  long  as  thou  canst  believe,  with  all  thy  heart, 
in  thy  heavenly  Father,  nothing  can  trouble  thy 
deepest  soul;  for,  since  He  is,  nothing  is  hard 
to  bear,  and  all  will  be  well.  As  there  is  no 
stable  equilibrium  in  the  life  of  an  individual, 
there  is  none  in  that  of  a  community,  a  state,  or 
a  church.  The  inexorable  command  is,  —  Go 
forward  or  fall  back,  grow  or  decay.  Thy  life 
is  possible  only  through  communion  with  God, 
with  nature,  and  with  thy  fellowman ;  and  thou 
canst  educate  thyself  only  by  holding  thy  mind 
and  heart  in  conscious  and  sympathetic  contact 
with  God,  with  nature,  and  with  thy  fellowmen. 
Separation  is  mutilation,  isolation  is  death.  To 
attempt  to  gain  knowledge  without  the  faith  and 
feeling  that  God  lives  within  His  universe,  that 
nature  is  His  vesture  and  thou  thyself  a  member 
of  the  whole  human  organism,  is  to  take  the 
path  which  leads  to  hopeless  doubt,  to  intellec- 
tual despair.  After  however  much  labor  and 
pain,  thou  shalt  at  last  be  forced  to  cry  out  with 
the  poet,  that  it  breaks  thy  heart  to  know  that 
man  can  know  nothing.  But  if,  with  yearning 
thought  and  tireless  effort,  thou  reachest  forth 
to  all  that  is  divine,  and  natural,  and  nobly 
human,  thou  shalt  surely  gain  new  access  of  life, 
new  strength  of  mind  and  heart,  and  little  by 
little  come  to  feel  that  the  arms  of  the  Eternal 
are  twined  lovingly  about  thee.  The  Divine 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  9 

Power  is  manifest  in  what  lives,  grows,  and  ful- 
fils itself,  rather  than  in  what  is  finished  and 
complete. 

We  cannot  comprehend  what  awakens  the 
purest  and  profoundest  emotions.  They  who 
feel  God's  presence  inquire  not  into  the  nature 
of  His  being,  as  a  child  reposing  on  a  mother's 
breast  asks  not  how  or  why  she  is  fair.  "  It  is 
not  always  necessary,"  says  Goethe,  "  that  truth 
take  definite  shape;  it  may  be  enough  that  it 
hover  about  us  like  a  spirit  and  produce  har- 
mony." God  is  before  all,  within  all,  above  all, 
—  eternal,  immanent,  transcendent. 

The  deeper  and  purer  one's  religion,  the 
higher  and  richer  his  moral  life ;  and  as  moral 
worth  increases,  faith  in  God  is  confirmed. 
Truth  and  love  are  the  best,  though  all  men 
should  fall  away  from  them;  and  faith  in  the 
love  of  God  is  the  life  of  the  soul,  however  few 
there  be  who  drink  from  this  fountain  head. 
Believe,  then,  and  love ;  and  so  live  that  they 
who  come  near  to  thee  may  feel  the  divine 
influence. 

When  we  think  of  the  vast  bulk  of  the  earth ; 
of  the  unimaginable  force  with  which  it  turns 
on  its  axis ;  of  the  velocity  with  which  it  circles 
around  the  sun,  fully  one-and-a-half  million 
miles  a  day,  —  and  then  add  to  this  the  forces 
of  the  innumerable  heavenly  bodies,  as  they 


10  LIFE  ANf)  EDUCATION. 

revolve  in  swiftest  motion,  the  power  of  God 
from  which  all  this  springs  so  overwhelms  us 
that  we  seem  to  cease  to  be.  As  man's  strength 
vanishes  into  nothingness  in  the  presence  of  the 
Divine  Power,  so  in  the  presence  of  the  Divine 
Wisdom,  Goodness,  and  Love,  his  knowledge, 
goodness,  and  love  become  as  though  they  were 
not.  Thou  alone  art,  O  my  God !  and  I  but 
exist;  do  with  me  as  Thou  wilt;  it  is  enough 
for  me  to  have  been  conscious,  for  a  moment 
even,  of  Thy  almighty  power  and  goodness. 

"  If  in  us  dwelt  not  God's  own  might 
How  could  the  godlike  give  delight  ?  " 

We  live  in  God ;  and  since  He  lives  eternally, 
why  shall  not  we  also  who  are  partakers  of  His 
life?  It  is  with  life  as  with  evil,  —  the  mystery 
lies  in  its  being  at  all,  not  in  its  never  ending. 
As  in  the  presence  of  some  great  calamity, 
which  destroys  cities  and  lays  waste  whole 
provinces,  we  bow  to  the  inscrutable  will  of  God, 
feeling  that  explanation  is  hopeless,  so  let  us 
behave  in  all  the  happenings  of  life,  in  the  small 
as  in  the  great.  He  hides  in  dark  clouds  of 
mystery,  and  his  ways  are  unsearchable ;  but  He 
watches  over  us,  and  what  He  does  is  rightly 
done.  We  seek  only  what  we  have  in  a  way 
already  found,  at  the  least,  as  a  longing  and 
aspiration ;  and  if  we  seek  God,  it  is  because  we 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  II 

feel  within  the  inmost  heart  the  need  of  Him 
to  save  us  from  falling  into  nothingness.  He 
Himself  is  in  our  yearning  for  Him  and  in  our 
seeking ;  and  therefore  when  we  ask,  we  receive ; 
when  we  seek,  we  find ;  when  we  strive  to  know 
Him,  He  is  near ;  when  we  love  Him,  He  is  ours. 
They  whose  souls  this  truth  has  penetrated  are 
not  disturbed  by  doubts  and  difficulties.  They 
have  found  their  Father  and  are  at  peace.  Live 
with  thy  soul,  and  find  God  there,  and  thou 
shalt  not  need  to  pray  for  miracles. 

All  things  fulfil  the  law  of  their  being,  —  the 
flowers  bloom  and  scatter  fragrance,  the  tree 
bears  its  fruit,  the  stars  keep  their  appointed 
places.  Let  thy  will  hold  thee  too,  steadfast 
and  true.  What  lesser  creatures  will-less  do,  do 
thou  willingly.  What  is  far  is  also  near.  Ninety 
million  miles  away,  the  sun  is  still  close  to  us 
and  keeps  us  alive.  So  God,  who  seems  infi- 
nitely remote,  is  within  our  inmost  being,  im- 
pelling us  to  thought  and  love.  We  know  only 
as  we  are  affected;  and  our  thoughts  of  God 
and  the  Universe  are  but  the  expression  of  their 
influence  on  us.  That  which  is  not  within  us  is 
for  us  as  though  it  were  not.  To  those  alone 
who  feel  God's  presence  in  the  soul  as  the  su- 
preme reality,  do  nature  and  history  proclaim 
His  infinite  power  and  goodness.  We  never 
comprehend  what  we  adore ;  for  to  comprehend 


12  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

is  to  dominate,  and  we  cannot  adore  that  which 
is  subject  to  us.  Hence,  God  and  all  the  deep 
realities  of  life  are  mysteries  which  we  feel  and 
accept,  but  cannot  understand.  Hence,  too, 
we  never  lay  hold  of  the  truths  of  religion  with 
the  firmness  and  definiteness  with  which  we 
grasp  the  truths  of  science.  We  know  them 
only  so  far  as  we  feel  them;  and,  therefore, 
right  disposition  and  right  life  are  essential  to 
the  maintenance  of  wholesome  and  vigorous 
faith.  Strive  ceaselessly  to  increase  thy  power 
of  admiration,  enthusiasm,  reverence,  and  awe ; 
for  God  is  with  thee  and  is  in  all  thou  beholdest 
and  knowest ;  and  if  thou  be  great  enough  and 
pure  enough,  thou  shalt  feel  His  presence,  and 
rejoice  in  Him  and  His  work.  He  is  not  an 
abstraction,  but  the  infinite  reality;  and  the 
process  of  abstraction  leads  from,  not  to  Him. 
He  cannot  be  deduced  from  phrases  or  confined 
in  formulas.  If  thou  wouldst  know  Him,  feel 
after  Him  with  thy  whole  being,  —  yearning, 
hoping,  believing,  loving,  and  doing;  and  He 
shall  become  as  real  for  thee  as  thy  very  self. 
The  love  of  God  is  the  only  love  which  is  not  a 
chain.  Make  Thou  me,  O  God !  Mould  and 
fashion  me  as  Thou  knowest  and  wiliest,  and  not 
as  I  think  and  desire. 

Virtue  is  beauty  ;  in  a  noble  mind 
Whatever  is  most  fair  thou  'It  surely  find. 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  13 

Without  God,  thou  canst  do  nothing;  but  in 
thy  struggle  for  wisdom  and  virtue,  look  to  thy- 
self; for,  if  thou  do  thy  part,  His  help  will  not 
be  lacking.  If  religion  is  true,  the  religious  gain 
all ;  if  it  is  false,  they  lose  nothing ;  for  their 
joys,  even  here,  are  higher  and  purer  than  any- 
thing worldlings  know.  Let  there  be  light 
within  thy  mind,  and  thy  life  shall  become  a 
light-irradiating  centre  for  others.  We  cannot 
honor  God  by  making  man  appear  worse  than 
he  is,  since  to  serve  Him  rightly  we  must  make 
ourselves  and  others  better.  We  feel  our  de- 
pendence, not  on  nature,  for  we  are  conscious 
of  our  superiority  to  matter,  but  on  the  Infinite 
Spirit;  arid  thus  self-consciousness  is  a  confes- 
sion of  God's  existence.  With  me  there  dwells 
one  greater  than  I.  Whether  I  think  or  hope, 
I  am  conscious  of  His  presence.  He  is  behind 
all  I  see  or  hear  or  touch.  It  is  He  who  makes 
me  know  that  I  live ;  it  is  He  who  makes  me 
feel  that  death  is  apparent  only.  The  creation 
is  not  finished.  My  Father,  says  the  Divine 
Master,  works  even  until  now.  Since  God  is 
still  busy  with  His  task,  how  shall  we  be  idle? 
Or  is  it  not  a  godlike  thing  to  work  with  the 
Almighty?  The  light  dawns  from  within  the 
mind  and  heart.  What  has  not  been  seen  and 
felt  there,  will  not  body  itself  forth  in  right 
words  or  deeds.  No  one  can  do  more  than 


14  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

show  thee  the  way  to  the  highest.  Thou  must 
thyself  walk  therein,  if  thou  wouldst  reach  the 
end.  Thy  misery  is  within  thyself.  Become  other 
and  higher,  and  life  will  be  good  enough  for 
thee.  However  great  the  darkness  in  thy  mind, 
the  world  is  still  full  of  light,  and  God  is  over 
all.  Be  not  discouraged  by  thy  past,  but  know 
that,  whatever  it  has  been,  the  best  may  still  be 
thine.  Seek  truth  for  thyself;  for  if  thou  think- 
est  of  others,  thou  art  not  thinking  of  truth. 
The  power  to  know  more  and  more,  without  end, 
gives  us  kinship  with  the  Eternal  Wisdom.  It 
is  God  who  fills  us  with  the  craving  to  know  yet 
more  what  we  know,  and  to  love  yet  more  what 
we  love.  A  pure  heart  is  better  than  a  strong 
mind ;  and  honesty,  whether  or  not  the  best 
policy,  is  better  than  all  policy.  Think  not  that 
God  exists  to  make  thee  happy.  He  exists  for 
Himself,  and  thou  canst  find  happiness  only  in 
giving  thyself  wholly  to  Him.  Thou  canst  not 
improve  others,  unless  thou  continue  to  improve 
thyself.  If  thy  words  are  to  have  efficacy,  thy 
life  must  give  it  to  them.  Thy  proper  business 
is  to  make  thyself  worthy;  but  thou  canst  do 
this  only  by  holding  thyself  in  communion  with 
God,  and  in  helpful  harmony  with  the  best  in- 
terests of  those  with  whom  thou  livest.  In  this 
way  alone  canst  thou  find  peace  and  content- 
ment ;  for  if  thou  live  not  with  God  and  for  thy 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  15 

fellowmen,  thy  life  shall  grow  to  be  barren  and 
burdensome  to  thee.  Though  thou  thyself  fail, 
rejoice  that  it  has  been  given  to  another  to  do 
nobly ;  for  if  thou  art  capable  of  envy,  thou  art 
incapable  of  wisdom.  Since  truth  is  the  highest, 
being  the  centre  of  goodness  and  love,  truthful- 
ness is  the  best.  If  God  has  made  thee  capable 
of  doing  any  real  thing,  thou  must  do  it,  or  in 
all  eternity  it  will  not  be  done.  The  highest  is 
for  thee,  since  God  wills  to  give  Himself  to  thee. 
Thy  whole  business  is  to  make  thyself  worthy. 
Under  all  our  knowledge  of  things  lie  the  ideas 
of  force,  substance,  space,  and  time,  which  are 
beyond  our  comprehension.  In  the  same  way 
above,  behind,  within  the  world,  as  it  appears  to 
us,  there  is  an  infinite  reality,  a  power  which 
makes  the  world  what  it  is,  and  which  we  can- 
not comprehend,  but  which  we  call  truth,  good- 
ness, beauty,  absolute  life,  God,  —  feeling  certain 
that  the  more  nobly  we  think  of  this  essential 
Being,  the  more  nearly  we  approach  His  un- 
fathomable nature.  The  scientific  process  is  not 
so  much  a  rising  from  facts  to  principles,  as  it  is 
a  transformation  of  the  world  of  the  senses  into  a 
world  of  forces  and  laws.  Thought-powers  — 
for  such  are  force  and  law — lie  at  the  heart  of 
the  universal  fact.  In  the  more  practical  phases 
of  science  also,  that  which  most  attracts  us  is 
not  the  having  and  holding  and  sensual  enjoyment 


1 6  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

of  things,  but  the  dominion  over  them,  —  the 
ability  to  turn  them  to  increase  the  power  and 
quality  of  our  life.  The  centre  of  gravity  of  all 
thinking  and  striving  lies  not  in  what  the  world 
is  or  may  be  made,  but  in  what  man  is  and  may 
become.  A  single  human  soul  outweighs  the 
whole  material  universe ;  for  matter  has  meaning 
and  value  only  for  souls.  When  the  inner  life 
becomes  a  world  for  itself,  it  cannot  be  shaken 
by  what  comes  from  without.  Truth  lies  not 
abroad,  but  in  the  deeps ;  and  when  the  soul  is 
driven  back  upon  itself  by  the  flaming  walls  of 
space,  it  finds  its  true  home,  where  even  that 
which  in  the  external  world  it  recognizes  as 
apparent  only,  becomes  real  as  part  of  its  expe- 
rience. We  live,  indeed,  in  time  and  place ;  but 
the  more  profound  our  soul-life  becomes,  the 
better  do  we.  understand  that  it  cannot  be  con- 
fined in  space  or  supported  by  ideas  that  are 
not  eternal  Truth, —  Truth  which  we  can  never 
fully  possess,  but  which  is  the  motive  and  end 
of  all  our  striving.  The  stream  of  life  flows  not 
from  the  present  to  the  future,  but  from  the 
present  to  eternity.  The  future  shall  never  be 
ours,  —  shall  never  be,  at  all,  as  the  future ;  but 
we  may,  if  we  will,  live  always  with  what  is 
eternal,  with  truth  and  love,  —  with  God.  He 
who  lives  rightly  in  the  present,  lives  for  and  in 
eternity,  which  is  the  proper  home  of  the  spirit, 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  I/ 

whose  life  is  at  once  in  the  past,  the  present,  and 
the  future.  In  the  midst  of  transitory  and  ap- 
parent things,  it  is  conscious  of  a  world  which 
is  real  and  permanent.  Rising  above  the  lapses 
of  time,  it  sees  the  nothingness  of  all  that  passes 
away. 

The  minute  thou  hast  lost  or  misused,  eter- 
nity shall  not  make  good  for  thee.  The  primary 
duty  is  not  to  make  life  pleasant  and  beautiful, 
but  to  make  it  true  and  good,  by  holding 
it  in  communion  with  the  Infinite  Spirit  from 
whom  it  springs.  If  it  be  true  and  good,  it 
will  be  also  pleasant  and  beautiful.  Learn  to 
live  in  the  divine  world,  and  thy  life  will  be- 
come divine.  Self-improvement  is,  at  bottom, 
moral  improvement,  development  of  character ; 
for  it  is  this  that  makes  a  man,  and  without  this 
intellectual  and  aesthetic  culture  is  a  futile  thing. 
It  requires  time  and  pains  to  learn  to  do  what 
it  is  most  profitable  to  do.  If,  therefore,  thou 
wouldst  do  well  any  useful  thing,  spare  not 
labor,  nor  think  a  lifetime  long.  Our  action  is 
feeble  and  ineffectual  unless  it  spring  from  our 
innermost  being,  from  the  thought  and  love 
which  make  us  what  we  are.  Become  a  living 
soul  and  utter  thyself,  and  thy  words  and  deeds 
shall  kindle  life  in  others.  Hold  thyself  aloof 
from  those  who  think  in  herds,  who  estimate  all 
things  at  the  value  the  crowd  puts  upon  them. 


1 8  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

To  think  is  to  make  an  inner  conquest  of  the 
objects  of  thought.  What  we  know  we  have 
overcome.  Knowledge,  like  love,  triumphs  over 
all  things.  Bring  forth  within  thyself  higher 
truth  and  love,  and  thou  shalt  find  thyself  a  new 
being  in  a  new  world. 

From  within,  from  within,  springs  life's  deep  source 
And  backward  to  its  fountain  circles  its  course. 

Thy  whole  strength  is  in  God;  in  Him  all 
thy  power  of  faith,  hope,  and  love.  From  Him 
and  to  Him  all  thy  thinking  and  striving  move. 
Without  Him  thou  wert  nothing ;  and  with  Him 
all  divine  things  are  possible  for  thee. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  it  is  harder 
to  know  the  whole  than  the  parts,  the  invisible 
than  the  visible,  the  eternal  than  the  temporal. 
We  know  ourselves  and  God  as  wholes;  and 
this  is  the  most  immediate  knowledge.  When 
we  strive  to  grasp  matter,  it  melts  into  the  in- 
visible, becomes  atoms  and  ether,  —  a  system 
of  forces.  Eternity  is  plain;  time  and  space 
are  the  puzzle.  It  is  the  radical  vice  of  our 
present  philosophy  and  education  that  they 
teach  young  souls  to  doubt  that  of  which  they 
are  most  certain,  —  thus  banishing  them  from 
their  true  home,  and  leaving  them  helpless  and 
hopeless  in  a  God-forsaken  universe.  When 
we  affirm  that  duty  is  the  supreme  law  of  life, 
that  all  ideals  are  subject  to  moral  ideals,  we 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  19 

doubtless  utter  a  great  truth;  but  duty,  even 
when  it  is  reverenced,  is  associated  with  stern 
and  chilling  thoughts;  it  does  not  raise  and 
cheer  us  like  the  voice  of  love.  The  mother 
watching  by  the  side  of  her  sick  child  would 
shrink  from  the  thought  that  she  is  doing  what 
duty  bids :  duty  is  swallowed  in  love.  The 
Saviour  spoke  not  of  duty,  but  of  love;  and 
millions  of  hearts  respond  to  his  appeal  for 
hundreds  who  are  swayed  by  the  cold  and 
imperative  command  of  duty.  Duty  is  mo- 
rality, love  is  religion,  transforming  morality 
into  righteousness,  which  is  life.  Loving  is  the 
only  true  living.  God  sees  all  things  and  is 
not  disturbed.  Canst  thou  not  retain  com- 
posure, and  work  in  thy  little  world  with  a 
calm  spirit,  however  much  the  storms  buffet 
thee  and  men  fret  and  complain?  It  is  but  for 
a  moment.  Unimaginable  lengths  of  time  pre- 
cede each  man's  birth  and  follow  his  death. 
Between  these  two  immensities  the  longest  life 
shrivels  to  the  point  of  vanishment. 

He  who  in  youth  labors  to  improve  himself  in 
knowledge  and  virtue  is  cheered  and  upborne 
by  a  high  and  joyful  spirit ;  and  in  old  age  he 
will  look  back  on  a  life  rich  in  good  deeds  and 
in  happy  memories. 

'  T  is  sweet  to  think  of  labors  past 
When  now  the  haven 's  gained  at  last. 


20  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Fix  thy  thought  and  desire  solely  upon  the  best ; 
then  if  fame  and  wealth  become  thine  also,  thou 
shalt  know  how  to  enjoy  them  in  innocence  and 
purity.  So  think  and  act  as  to  be  what  thou 
wouldst  have  men  consider  thee.  What  the 
youth  most  yearns  for  is  the  surest  indication  of 
what  the  man  shall  attain.  Be  thy  own  best 
friend,  which  thou  canst  be,  if  thou  art  a  stead- 
fast friend  to  truth  and  virtue.  Look  upon  life 
as  a  succession  of  opportunities  for  improving 
thyself  and  for  doing  good ;  so  shall  its  every 
moment,  whether  of  pleasure  or  of  pain,  of  suc- 
cess or  of  failure,  bring  thee  profit ;  and  little  by 
little  thou  shalt  come  to  know  many  things  and 
to  love  much.  Thou  shalt  learn  to  suffer  with 
fortitude  and  to  enjoy  with  moderation,  to  be 
helpful  to  thy  friends  and  just  to  thy  foes.  Thy 
sympathies  shall  widen,  thy  thoughts  grow 
nearer  truth;  and  thy  gratitude  to  God,  the 
giver  of  all  good,  become  as  much  a  part  of 
thyself,  as  the  breath  which  feeds  the  flame  of 
thy  life. 

Turn  resolutely  from  whatever  weakens  or 
discourages.  The  best  strength  is  strength  of 
mind;  the  best  wealth,  a  loving  heart.  Who- 
ever may  have  wronged  thee,  wrong  not  thyself 
by  complaining.  If  thou  art  a  lover  of  virtue 
rather  than  of  thyself,  thou  shalt  not  be  tempted 
to  envy  the  superiority  of  others.  To  be  with- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  21 

out  evil  thoughts,  says  ^Eschylus,  is  God's  best 
gift.  Think  not  of  profit,  whether  to  thy  name 
or  thy  purse;  but  live  in  thy  work,  glad  and 
thankful  that  thou  art  able  to  do  and  love  it. 
Better  not  be  spoken  of  at  all  than  to  be  praised 
with  lies. 

The  microscope  makes  marvellous  revela- 
tions ;  but  if  things  appeared  so  to  the  naked 
eye,  the  world  would  be  a  place  of  horrors.  So 
Science  teaches  profitable  truth ;  but  if  the 
mind  were  fitted  to  a  purely  mechanical  scheme 
of  things,  life  would  be  unbearable.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  know  truth,  if  by  constant  exercise 
we  keep  the  mind  open  and  the  heart  pure,  as 
athletes  perform  their  feats  with  ease  when  they 
keep  themselves  in  proper  training.  To  be  rich 
in  love,  in  wisdom,  in  knowledge,  in  well  doing, 
in  friends  to  whom  we  have  brought  joy  and 
strength,  is  to  be  rich  indeed.  What  hot  dis- 
putes, mingled  with  anathemas,  once  raged 
about  the  existence  of  the  antipodes ;  but  when 
the  fact  of  their  existence  was  made  palpable, 
to  accept  it  was  no  longer  a  sin  against  ortho- 
doxy. Let  us  seek  truth  in  the  spirit  of  mild- 
ness and  humility,  and  learn  to  possess  our 
souls  in  peace.  We  imagine  that  we  need  not 
give  heed  to  the  commonplaces;  but  the  best 
wisdom  lies  in  them,  and  a  real  mind  will  strive 
to  rethink  them  and  to  clothe  them  anew,  thus 
giving  them  fresh  meaning. 


22  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

That  which  distinguishes  great  minds  from 
the  common  is  not  so  much  a  difference  in  ideas 
as  a  difference  in  the  way  they  are  held.  Ideas 
take  possession  of  great  minds  and  transform 
themselves  into  their  substance;  while  in  ordi- 
nary minds  their  presence  is  casual  and  transi- 
tory. In  men  of  genius  we  rarely  meet  with 
anything  original;  but  we  find  in  them  truths 
with  which  we  are  more  or  less  acquainted, 
grasped  with  fresh  power  and  set  forth  with  new 
meaning  and  beauty.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is 
within.  Renounce  thyself;  love,  and  be  meek 
and  humble  of  heart,  and  thou  shalt  find  it,  — 
this  is  the  method  and  secret  of  Jesus.  Culti- 
vate the  power  of  going  out  of  thyself  that  thou 
mayst  be  able  to  see  and  appreciate  what  is 
good  and  fair  in  others.  Thus  shalt  thou  ac- 
quire an  open  mind  and  a  large  heart,  which 
are  better  than  all  the  gifts  of  fortune ;  "  for  a 
man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  he  possesseth." 

As  infirm  health  or  defects  of  body,  by 
barring  the  way  to  the  common  pursuits,  have 
impelled  some  to  cultivate  their  spiritual  en- 
dowments, and  thus  have  been  for  them  the 
occasions  of  worth  and  distinction ;  so  is  there 
hardly  any  misfortune  or  disadvantage  which 
the  wise  will  not  convert  to  opportunities  of 
larger  and  truer  life.  The  reality  within  and 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  23 

around  us  is  more  beautiful  and  more  wonder- 
ful than  all  that  the  fairy  tales  tell  of,  than  the 
enchanted  regions  of  which  poets  have  sung; 
but  its  divine  perfections  are  hidden  from  us, 
because  we  are  heedless,  dull,  and  unawakened, 
and  like  mere  animals  move  about  in  worlds 
unrealized.  It  is  the  business  and  purpose  of 
religion,  as  it  is  of  culture,  to  rouse  and  thrill 
us  with  the  consciousness  that  God  and  all  the 
divine  things  to  which  we  aspire,  are  with  us, 
even  here,  if  we  would  but  look  and  hearken. 
Therefore  the  lovers  of  perfection  are  busy 
striving  to  teach  us  that  the  Kingdom  of  God 
is  within;  and  that  to  hope  to  win  joy  and 
peace  by  getting  money,  and  surrounding  our- 
selves with  the  things  money  buys,  is  a  delusion, 
—  is  as  though  we  should  expect  to  find  home 
in  foreign  lands  and  those  we  love  among 
strangers;  as  though  we  should  imagine  that 
possessions  are  more  precious  than  life,  which 
alone  gives  them  value. 

To  be  one  of  a  crowd,  in  brilliant  parlors, 
where  men  and  women  wear  fine  clothes  and  say 
silly  nothings;  to  sit  at  tables  laden  with  rich 
meats  and  wines,  for  which  one  has  no  appetite; 
to  ride  in  showy  equipages  merely  to  see  and 
be  seen ;  to  breathe  the  foul  air  of  theatres,  to 
look  at  the  poor  acting  of  poor  plays,  or  at 
vulgar  exhibitions  of  the  human  body ;  to  travel 


24  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

because  one  is  tired  of  home;  to  buy  books 
which  one  does  not  read,  and  pictures  for  which 
one  does  not  care ;  to  make  great  display  in 
which  there  is  little  enjoyment;  to  seek  com- 
pany to  escape  the  dreariness  and  monotony  of 
one's  own  thoughts, — this  is  the  life  of  the  idle 
rich,  this  the  boon  which  money  brings.  The 
case  of  those  who  are  intent  on  getting  money 
is  hardly  better  than  that  of  those  who  are  busy 
spending  it.  They  waste  their  powers  in  accu- 
mulating what  they  cannot  enjoy;  and,  while 
they  heap  up  gold,  their  minds  are  starved,  their 
hearts  are  withered,  and  their  consciences  made 
callous.  They  become  the  victims  of  their  suc- 
cess, and  die  great  capitalists,  but  stunted  men. 
To  be  thought  indifferent  to  what  is  called 
civilization  is  a  matter  of  small  moment  for  one 
who  knows  that  the  good  of  life  lies  in  the  right 
disposition  of  mind  and  heart,  and  not  in  the 
things  a  man  possesses,  which,  if  they  are  desired 
and  sought  after  as  though  they  were  paramount, 
are  a  hindrance. 

The  two  laws  of  which  St.  Paul  speaks  — 
the  law  of  the  mind  and  the  law  of  the  members 
—  is  what  is  meant  by  the  higher  and  the 
lower  self.  Wisdom  and  peace  are  found  by 
those  who  succeed  in  bringing  the  inferior  and 
intermittent  sell  into  subjection  to  the  higher 
and  permanent  self.  In  other  words,  the  re- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  2$ 

ward  of  righteousness  is  life,  and  the  wages  of 
sin  is  death.  The  right  disposition  —  purity  of 
intention,  simplicity  of  aim,  modesty,  teachable- 
ness, and  the  desire  to  do  right  —  helps  us  to 
insight  into  the  highest  and  holiest  truth  better 
than  much  learning.  It  is  this  which  sometimes 
makes  plain  to  the  lowly-minded  what  is  hidden 
from  great  philosophers.  If  we  could  but  sweeten 
our  temper,  overcome  our  hardness  and  pride, 
and  annul  our  sensuality  —  whatever  else  is 
needful  would  easily  be  found.  They  who 
bring  us  peace  and  joy,  who  calm  and  invigor- 
ate our  minds,  are  not  merely  spiritual  benefac- 
tors ;  they  impart  a  sense  of  physical  comfort, 
and  help  us  to  triumph  over  bodily  infirmities. 

Happiness  is  a  poor  word  to  express  our 
deepest  need.  The  child  is  happy  when  it  has 
cakes  and  toys ;  the  maid  when  she  can  marry 
her  sad  lover ;  the  mother  when  her  baby  is  fat 
and  fair ;  the  laborer  when  his  wages  are  high ; 
the  farmer  when  his  crops  are  good ;  the  miser 
when  his  pile  of  gold  is  growing ;  —  but  all  this 
is  hardly  better  than  the  happiness  of  animals  in 
the  midst  of  rich  and  abundant  pasture ;  and  if 
we  take  the  word  in  this  sense,  we  may  say  that 
only  the  unhappy  know  and  yearn  for  the  best, 
—  for  that  which  makes  us  human  and  akin  to 
God.  If  I  lived  in  a  great  city,  or  in  a  palace, 
or  wore  costly  habiliments,  or  drank  delicious 


26  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

wines,  I  should  not  love  more  or  know  more  or 
be  more ;  and  since  the  hope  of  purer  love, 
truer  knowledge,  and  diviner  power  of  life,  is 
what  refreshes  and  upholds  me  in  all  my  long- 
ing and  striving,  —  why  should  I  desire  and  seek 
the  things  which  certainly  cannot  strengthen,  but 
may  weaken  and  destroy  this  hope? 

As  they  who  do  not  speak  the  same  language 
cannot  understand  one  another,  so  neither  can 
they  whose  thoughts  and  aims  make  them  inhabit- 
ants of  different  worlds.  In  vain  they  agree  to 
use  the  same  words,  to  accept  the  same  for- 
mulas ;  so  long  as  their  world  is  not  the  same,  no 
real  union  of  mind  and  heart  is  possible. 

Truth  and  love  rejoice  together, 
Bu'.  each  is  sad  without  the  other. 

They  do  not  know  and  love  who  feel  that  they 
know  and  love  enough ;  and  they  are  not  grate- 
ful who  believe  they  have  done  enough.  Be 
not  led  astray  by  the  desires,  ambitions,  and 
thoughts  which  are  prevalent  among  those  who 
hope  to  find  peace  and  joy  in  high  place,  or  in 
much  wealth,  or  in  a  multitude  of  friends,  or  in 
sensual  indulgence ;  for  they  are  not  to  be 
found  in  these  things,  but  are  the  blessings  of 
those  whose  hearts  are  pure  and  loving,  and 
whose  minds  are  luminous  with  truth. 

Tranquillity  of  mind,  which  if  not  happiness 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  2J 

is  inseparable  from  it,  belongs  only  to  those 
who  follow  the  example  and  the  teaching  of  the 
Saviour, —  to  the  lowly  minded,  the  pure  hearted, 
the  peace  loving,  the  truth  seeking,  and  the 
God  trusting.  Neither  poverty  nor  wealth, 
neither  obscurity  nor  fame,  neither  dulness  nor 
genius,  neither  love  nor  its  absence,  neither 
knowledge  nor  ignorance,  can  secure  this  inner 
blessedness  for  which  all  yearn,  and  which  only 
they  who  become  as  little  children  find.  The 
worst  enemies  of  religion  are  the  formalists,  they 
who  ban  and  bar  for  a  phrase  or  a  ceremony, 
but  are  careless  of  truth  and  love.  They  are 
the  children  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  whom 
Christ  denounced  and  who  crucified  him.  Thy 
private  opinion,  if  honestly  and  seriously  formed, 
has  for  thee  more  vital  worth  than  the  public 
opinion  of  thy  country  or  of  many  countries. 
A  little  is  enough.  A  single  dish  is  all  that  is 
needful,  the  Saviour  said  to  Martha,  busy  with 
preparing  a  feast:  and  when  we  have  learned 
to  be  content  with  little,  fair  Freedom  comes 
with  a  smile  to  welcome  us  to  the  inner  world 
where  Truth  leads  Liberty  by  the  hand,  and  the 
soul  tastes  delights  which  the  senses  can  never 
give. 

The  lover  of  truth,  like  a  fresh-hearted  boy, 
looks  to  each  new  day  as  to  a  new  life,  in  which 
he  shall  find  he  knows  not  what  of  joy  and 


28  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

beauty.  Like  lovers  and  friends  who  watch 
for  the  coming  of  those  they  love,  he  is  alert  to 
catch  the  faintest  stirrings  of  the  winged  mes- 
sengers who  draw  near  to  bring  him  high  and 
holy  thoughts;  and  if  but  a  single  celestial 
visitant  make  glad  the  day,  his  mind  is  filled 
with  light  and  his  heart  with  thankfulness ;  and 
so  for  him  every  day  is  God's  day,  given  him 
that  he  may  learn  to  know  and  love. 

Once  we  have  learned  the  secret  of  labor, 
which  never  wearies  and  never  loses  heart,  all 
the  mysteries  of  the  success  of  heroes  and 
saints,  of  philosophers  and  poets,  are  made 
plain  to  us.  Nothing  but  ceaseless  effort  is 
difficult,  and  nothing  else  achieves  aught  of 
permanent  value.  Only  the  habitually  thought- 
ful are  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  mo- 
ments of  inspiration  which  come  to  all,  but 
which  for  the  most  depart  unnoticed  and  un- 
used. It  is  the  welcome  given  to  these  heavenly 
messengers  by  saints  and  by  poets  that  makes 
them  a  race  apart.  The  truth  which  with  in- 
audible flutterings  and  magnetic  thrills  circles 
near  me  to-day,  like  a  humming-bird  among 
the  flowers,  may,  if  unheeded,  take  flight  and 
nevermore  return.  For  me  it  emerges  for 
briefest  space,  from  the  bosom  of  the  eternal ; 
but,  if  I  care  not  for  it,  it  seeks  again  its  ever- 
lasting home. 


THOUGHTS  AND   THEORIES.  2Q 

When  I  was  younger  I  longed  to  meet  with 
great  minds  that  I  might  learn  from  them  the 
secret  of  the  mysteries  which  haunt  the  soul ;  but 
at  last  I  came  to  understand  that  nothing  but 
patient  watching  and  solitary  study  can  lead  us 
where  divine  worlds  break  upon  the  view.  The 
lower  our  sympathy  descends,  the  more  human 
are  we,  and  the  more  godlike ;  for  God's  mercy 
is  over  all  His  works.  What  do  we  know  diviner 
than  the  love  of  mothers  and  of  all  true  lovers, 
which  stoops  to  the  humblest  service  with  a 
sense  of  joy  and  exaltation?  They  who  mount 
to  whatever  heights  must  still  dwell  in  spirit  in 
the  lowly  vales  where  life  begins,  on  penalty 
of  losing  the  best  and  holiest  which  life  can 
give. 

Amid  endless  variety  of  circumstance,  —  in 
cities  and  in  deserts,  in  palaces  and  in  huts,  on 
sea  and  on  land,  in  arctic  and  in  tropic  regions 
—  men  live  and  relish  life.  They  adapt  them- 
selves to  all  situations,  and  are  brave  and  hearty 
everywhere,  if  only  there  is  inner  health  and 
harmony.  He  who  breathes  the  air  of  the  in- 
tellect and  swims  in  a  current  of  ideas,  is  rich 
enough,  though  poor.  The  wide  earth  is  his 
home,  and  whatever  he  knows  and  cherishes 
is  his  property.  God  who  sees  the  universe 
sees  that  all  is  well,  and  if  we  were  great  enough, 
life  would  be  good  enough ;  but  we  sojourn  in 


3O  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

the  senses,  and  the  real  world  is  hidden  from 
us  though  it  is  close  to  every  mind.  Be  not 
overawed  or  discouraged  by  the  noise  made 
about  popular  names;  nor  by  the  pomp  with 
which  men  of  wealth  and  official  eminence  are 
surrounded.  These  things  are  a  hindrance  to 
right  life,  to  growth  of  mind,  to  integrity  of 
character,  to  elevation  of  thought  and  purity 
of  soul ;  and  those  wrho  are  perked  in  a  glitter- 
ing show  seldom  have  any  other  distinction 
than  that  which  is  conferred  by  circumstances; 
whereas  thou,  hidden  from  the  world,  art  left 
free  to  live  within,  with  God  and  with  all  that  the 
noblest  and  greatest  of  thy  race  have  thought 
and  loved.  The  impulse  to  utter  what  is  deep- 
est in  us  is  irresistible ;  but  when  he  who  builds 
or  writes  or  speaks  or  sings  or  paints,  thinks  of 
the  praise  or  the  money  his  work  shall  bring, 
he  acts  in  the  spirit  of  a  hireling,  and  the  divine 
mood  dies  within  him.  The  cause  of  all  our 
shallowness  and  insincerity  is  that  our  ear  is 
turned  to  catch  the  rumor  of  the  world,  or  the 
approval  of  one  or  several,  and  is  not  lowered 
to  the  still  whisperings  of  the  soul.  We  cannot 
know  what  worth  there  is  in  our  words  and 
deeds,  nor  is  it  important  that  we  should  know. 
It  is  our  business  to  think  and  to  do  with  what- 
ever power  God  has  given  us;  and  while  we 
so  act,  our  life  is  good  and  healthful.  Of  well 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  31 

doing  as  of  health  we  are  but  feebly  conscious ; 
for,  by  right  action,  self  is  merged  in  the  infi- 
nite world  of  truth  and  goodness.  We  do  not 
'  know  the  worth  of  our  words  and  deeds,  nor  can 
we  know  whether  we  have  yet  thought  and  done 
the  best  possible  for  us ;  and  it  is,  therefore, 
the  part  of  wisdom  to  continue  striving  for 
higher  knowledge  and  virtue,  even  to  the  verge 
of  the  grave,  that  we  may  not  only  live,  but  that 
we  die,  still  hoping  and  learning.  Fear  is  our 
great  enemy,  —  fear  of  the  world,  of  wicked  men 
and  wicked  tongues;  fear  of  unpopularity,  of 
loss  in  business  or  in  social  standing;  fear  of 
the  disapproval  of  the  ignorant  and  prejudiced, 
of  liars  and  fools ;  fear  of  friends  and  servants, 
of  wives  and  children ;  and  so  we  walk  trem- 
bling, as  though  we  picked  our  way  amid  jungles 
where  venomous  reptiles  and  beasts  of  prey 
haunt.  We  have  no  heart,  no  courage  to  be 
ourselves;  to  think  our  thoughts  and  live  our 
lives,  with  a  noble  scorn  of  whoever  would  les- 
sen our  liberty,  or  bid  us  halt  in  the  way  which 
God  has  opened  for  us. 

The  life  of  dissipation,  that  of  gamblers, 
drunkards,  and  libertines,  kills  the  soul ;  the  life 
of  business,  that  of  merchants,  manufacturers, 
and  money-lenders,  stifles  it ;  the  life  of  toil,  that 
of  laborers  and  drudges,  holds  it  in  the  prison  of 
semi-consciousness ;  the  life  of  society,  that  of 


32  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

the  idle  rich,  gives  it  but  leave  to  show  itself  like 
a  pet  or  a  clown ;  the  life  of  the  family,  that  of 
husbands,  wives,  and  children,  clips  its  wings 
and  reduces  it  to  the  condition  of  a  barn-yard 
fowl.  Only  in  communion  with  God,  with 
nature,  and  with  great  minds,  yet  here  or  passed 
beyond,  can  the  soul  prosper  and  know  the  in- 
finite worth  of  its  divine  being.  When  every- 
where there  is  pretension  and  mere  seeming,  be 
thankful  that  thou  art  permitted  to  stand  aside 
from  the  clamorous  and  blind  rushings  of  the 
crowd,  to  dwell  with  thy  own  soul,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  what  is  eternally  true  and  good,  that  so 
thou  mayst  become  a  real  and  not  an  apparent 
man.  Let  that  prevail  which  brings  the  highest 
good  to  men,  which  bears  them  nearer  to  infinite 
truth  and  love ;  and  if  thy  private  interests  and 
prejudices  stand  a  hair's  breadth  in  the  way,  let 
them  be  shattered  as  by  the  breath  of  God. 

We  here  in  America  are  the  most  prodigious 
example  of  success  which  history  records.  In 
little  more  than  a  century  we  have  subdued  a 
continent  to  the  uses  of  civilized  man ;  we  have 
built  cities,  railways,  and  telegraphs ;  we  have 
invented  all  kinds  of  machines  to  do  all  kinds  of 
work ;  we  have  established  a  school  and  a  news- 
paper in  every  hamlet ;  our  wealth  is  incalculable ; 
our  population  is  counted  by  tens  of  millions; 
and  yet  in  spite  of  all  we  are  a  disappointment 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  33 

to  ourselves  and  to  the  world,  because  we  have 
failed  in  the  supreme  end  of  human  effort,  —  the 
making  man  himself  a  wiser,  nobler,  diviner 
being.  We  have  uttered  no  thoughts  which  have 
illumined  the  nations ;  we  have  not  felt  the  thrill 
of  immortal  loves ;  we  are  not  buoyed  by  a  faith 
and  hope  which  are  as  firm  rooted  as  the  rock- 
ribbed  mountains.  We  have  had  no  prophet,  no 
poet,  no  philosopher,  no  saint,  no  supreme  man 
in  any  art  or  science.  We  have  trusted  to  mat- 
ter as  the  most  real  thing;  we  have  lived  on  the 
surface,  amid  shows,  and  our  souls  have  not 
drunk  of  the  deep  infinite  source  of  life.  Our 
religion  and  our  education  are  cherished  for  the 
practical  ends  which  they  serve;  for  the  sup- 
port they  give  to  our  political  institutions,  while 
these  institutions  themselves  are  made  a  kind  of 
fetish.  The  people  have  become  less  disinter- 
ested, less  high-minded,  less  really  intelligent; 
and  among  their  leaders  it  is  rare  to  find  one 
who  is  distinguished  either  by  strength  and  cul- 
tivation of  mind  or  by  purity  and  integrity  of 
character.  Are  we  destined  to  become  the 
most  prodigious  example  of  failure  as  of  success, 
recorded  by  history? 

Politics  and  practical  life  have  indispensable 

uses,  but  they  are  not  everything;   and  those 

who  speak  to  the  soul,  who  thrill  it  with  nobler 

thoughts,  with  higher  views  of  truth  and  visions 

3 


34  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

of  a  more  celestial  beauty,  do  also  necessary 
work,  for  without  it  man  would  be  little  more 
than  a  shrewder  kind  of  animal ;  and  in  the 
world  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  the  spiritual 
sense,  the  sense  for  things  which  have  no  mate- 
rial uses,  needs  cultivation  far  more  than  the 
faculty  for  contriving  and  getting.  Our  educa- 
tion is,  as  Emerson  says,  a  system  of  despair. 
It  is  a  device  to  help  us  to  gain  a  livelihood,  to 
prepare  the  young  to  become  clerks  or  mer- 
chants or  mechanics  or  lawyers  or  preachers,  — 
a  key  which  unlocks  the  world  of  story-books 
and  newspapers;  but  in  education  as  a  divine 
force,  whereby  a  nobler  race  may  be  formed,  we 
have  no  faith.  We  have  confidence  that  our 
machinery  shall  be  made  more  and  more  per- 
fect, but  no  hope  that  it  shall  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  more  godlike  men  and  women.  We 
are  influenced  by  climate,  by  the  quality  of  the 
soil  we  till,  by  the  implements  we  use,  by  the 
kind  of  work  we  do,  and  by  whatever  encom- 
passes us ;  but  a  good  climate  will  not  of  itself 
make  good  men,  nor  will  good  machines.  The 
dwellers  in  our  fine  houses  are  ordinary  people, 
and  show  no  tendency  to  become  equal  to  the 
splendor  of  their  habitations.  The  travellers  in 
our  luxurious  cars  and  steamships  have  vulgar 
thoughts  and  aims,  and  long  not  for  anything 
higher. 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  35 

It  seems  doubtful  whether  the  environment 
which  civilization  has  created  tends  to  improve 
men,  however  superior  the  civilized  man  be 
to  the  savage.  He  reaches  a  certain  point,  and 
then  his  wealth  and  machinery  become  hin- 
drances to  further  progress.  Shall  we  never  see 
such  men  and  women  as  the  knights  and  fair 
ladies  with  whom  the  rich  imagination  of  youth 
peoples  the  castles  of  the  centuries  that  are 
gone?  The  kind  of  man  the  young  so  easily 
imagine  and  steadfastly  believe  in  must  be  pos- 
sible. Shall  we  not  yet  redeem  the  promise 
which  gleams  in  the  stars,  laughs  in  the  flowers, 
leaps  in  the  heart  of  childhood,  and  is  current 
with  the  thoughts  and  loves  of  poets  and  virgins? 
We  crave  for  wealth  and  sensual  delights,  be- 
cause we  have  not  made  ourselves  capable  of 
knowledge  and  love. 

The  truthseeker  in  his  narrow  room  is  happy 
enough;  the  youth  and  maid  find  a  paradise 
simply  in  loving  each  other.  They  who  mock 
the  scholar  and  the  lover  are  but  barbarians  who 
think  the  good  of  life  is  found  in  display  or  in 
the  gratification  of  appetite.  The  bliss  of  poets, 
the  rapture  of  saints,  the  tranquil  mind  of  the 
wise,  the  sweet  heart  of  virgins  and  mothers,  are 
beyond  their  imagining.  They  own  not  the  stars 
and  the  clouds,  but  only  the  things  they  touch 
or  taste  or  wear  or  flaunt  before  the  envious  eyes 


36  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

of  the  vulgar.  How  shall  they  understand  that 
only  what  we  know  and  love  and  can  do,  is  ours ; 
that  genuine  titles  of  ownership  are  written  on 
the  mind  and  heart,  and  not  on  parchment  and 
paper? 

The  misfortunes  which  throw  us  back  upon 
ourselves,  upon  the  inner  source  of  life,  thereby 
driving  us  nearer  to  God,  are  blessings,  however 
unwelcome  or  rudely  given.  The  friend  who 
has  forsaken  me  was  a  distraction,  the  money 
which  I  have  lost  a  hindrance.  The  disagree- 
able surroundings  in  which  I  find  myself  compel 
me  to  live  in  a  higher  sphere,  as  lack  of  recogni- 
tion from  the  world  reminds  me  that  approval 
is  wisely  sought  only  in  one's  own  mind  and 
conscience. 

Make  thy  heart  pure  and  listen  to  the  voice 
within,  and  thou  shalt  not  need  to  ask  for  proof 
of  God's  existence.  He  is  with  thee,  and  the  the- 
ories and  disputations  of  the  learned  cannot  ban- 
ish Him.  The  earth  is  not  an  immovable  centre, 
as  was  believed  of  old ;  and  yet  the  sun  and  the 
stars  keep  their  places  and  nothing  is  changed, 
and  so  God  abides,  however  the  thoughts  of  men 
widen  and  diverge.  He  is  with  thee,  the  God  of 
thy  fathers,  thy  own  Father ;  not  an  All-nothing, 
not  a  stream  without  whence  or  whither,  rising 
and  ending  nowhere;  but  the  Infinite  Power 
who  makes  thee,  who  makes  thee  capable  of 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  37 

faith  and  hope,  of  truth  and  love,  and  saves  thee 
from  the  abyss  of  despair  and  death.  To  live 
habitually  in  the  company  of  great  thoughts  and 
under  the  impulse  of  generous  emotions  is  as 
near  the  blessed  life  as  one  may  hope  to 
approach  on  earth,  while  petty  thoughts  and 
selfish  desires  attend  the  weak  and  miserable. 
They  drive  them  to  envy,  hate,  and  sensuality; 
for,  so  long  as  they  are  possessed  by  such 
thoughts  and  desires,  they  are  displeasing  to 
themselves,  and  seek  self-forgetfulness  in  dwell- 
ing on  the  sins  and  misfortunes  of  others,  or  in 
yielding  to  their  animal  nature,  or  they  dwindle 
and  harden  until  they  become  mere  getters  or 
hoarders  of  money.  That  we  may  escape  such 
a  fate  let  us  refresh  ourselves  day  by  day  with 
rethinking  some  vital  truth,  with  reviving  some 
noble  sentiment,  that  these  heavenly  powers  may 
guard  us  at  our  work  and  keep  us  worthily  active 
and  beneficent.  If  we  have  not  the  ability  to  do 
this  unassisted,  let  us  have  recourse  to  a  genuine 
book,  choosing  what  will  suit  our  purpose  from 
the  Gospels  or  the  Imitation,  or  from  the  life  of  a 
saint  or  a  sage,  or  from  the  pages  of  an  inspired 
poet.  No  formality  is  necessary  and  little  time 
is  required ;  and  if  we  persevere  we  shall  find 
ourselves  rising  to  higher  and  serener  worlds, 
where  pettiness  and  baseness  fall  away,  and 
God's  presence  is  revealed.  Merely  to  know 


38  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

that  God  is,  fills  me  with  such  joy  and  confidence 
that  the  ills  of  life  seem  vain  and  transitory. 

The  conviction  that  all  which  I  most  desire 
and  admire  has  its  source  in  the  Eternal,  who 
makes  truth  and  love  the  most  real  things,  gives 
me  such  contentment,  that  my  ignorance  and 
doubts,  my  weakness  and  faults,  cease  to  disturb 
my  peace  of  soul.  Whatever  confusion  may 
arise  in  the  world  around  me,  whatever  direction 
the  course  of  events  may  take,  I  rest  in  the 
thought  that,  above  and  within  all,  there  is  a 
living  Power  who  guides  the  whole  to  ends 
diviner  than  I  can  conceive.  This  is  enough ; 
I  throw  all  my  little  weight  of  care  on  Him ;  a 
sense  of  security  takes  possession  of  me,  and  I 
am  as  unafraid  as  a  child  rocked  by  a  mother's 
hand.  I  look  away  from  sorrow  and  death,  and 
all  the  agonies  of  bruised  hearts  and  despairing 
souls,  to  where,  behind  the  veil  of  sense,  God 
lives  and  loves  forever ;  and  I  feel  that  with  Him 
are  things  unknown  to  mortal  minds,  full  of 
divine  meaning  and  benevolence,  into  which  the 
miseries  of  man  enter,  and  are  transformed  into 
peace  and  joy,  falling  into  the  tranquil  bosom  of 
the  Eternal,  like  tears  of  repentant  children  on 
the  white  and  tender  breasts  of  mothers.  When 
I  see  flowers  bending  their  fair  heads  in  the 
pleasant  air,  they  seem  to  me  to  be  souls,  who 
in  adoring  God  blossom  into  beauty  and  fra- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  39 

grance.  We  live  on  the  fat  earth  which  breaks 
into  myriad  forms  of  life,  and  we  feel  that  it  is 
good  to  be  here.  We  call  it  our  mother,  our 
country,  our  home;  but  it  hardly  occurs  to  us 
that,  if  the  sun's  heat  were  withdrawn  but  for  a 
day,  it  would  become  a  frozen  rock,  rolling  life- 
less through  endless  space.  So  we  live  in  our 
thoughts  and  loves.  The  soul  takes  wings  and 
flies  to  the  uttermost  bounds  of  space.  It  dis- 
ports in  infinitude ;  hope  bears  it  on  forever  and 
forever,  and  love  crowns  it  with  joy  and  gladness. 
But  we  forget  that,  if  God  withdrew  from  us  but 
an  instant,  we  should  vanish  utterly  in  the  inane. 
The  sun  is  millions  of  miles  away,  and  yet  as 
close  as  the  throbbings  of  our  hearts ;  and  God 
seems  infinitely  remote,  but  He  is  in  truth  the 
life  of  our  life,  and  the  light  of  all  our  ways.  If 
God's  being  were  plain,  faith  in  Him  would  not 
be  a  primary  virtue. 

If  science  could  make  all  things  intelligible, 
knowledge  would  swallow  faith  here,  as  St. 
Paul  declares  it  shall  hereafter.  But  the  more 
we  learn,  the  deeper  the  mystery  grows.  Why 
is  knowledge  difficult  and  faith  easy?  Because 
faith  has  the  mightier  power  to  impel  to  action, 
without  which  growth  is  impossible.  They  who 
are  persuaded  that  their  faith  is  true,  are  driven 
to  implant  it  in  the  hearts  of  their  children ;  for 
they  feel  that  upon  the  very  young  alone  can 


4O  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

the  most  lasting  impressions  be  made;  that 
what  in  this  tender  period  is  brought  home  to 
us  as  sacred,  we  shall  hardly  ever  come  to  look 
on  as  profane.  The  whole  world  is  suffused 
with  the  light  of  those  early  moods;  and  reli- 
gion, rightly  learned  in  childhood,  is  as  fair  and 
full  of  promise  as  the  dawn,  as  mellow  and  sooth- 
ing as  the  twilights  that  gathered  about  us, 
while  a  mother's  kisses  fell  upon  our  cheeks. 
Who  can  doubt  that  God  reveals  Himself  in  the 
thoughts  of  the  wise  and  the  deeds  of  the  good? 
A  noble  mind  manifests  His  wisdom  and  power 
in  a  higher  way  than  the  orbs  which  sparkle 
in  the  limitless  expanse.  Agnosticism  which 
teaches  that  man  can  know  nothing  of  the  most 
profoundly  interesting  subjects,  would  thereby 
turn  the  mind  from  speculations,  which,  to  take 
merely  this  view,  have  not  only  the  subtlest 
charm,  but  the  highest  educational  value.  It  is 
by  struggling  with  the  unknown,  with  what,  it 
may  be,  we  cannot  know,  that  we  grow  in  intel- 
lectual vigor  and  suppleness.  It  is  the  wrest- 
ling of  Israel  with  God,  till  He  bless  him.  The 
arguments  for  the  being  of  God,  as  distinct  from 
the  physical  universe,  may  be  logically  incon- 
clusive; but  the  fact  remains  that  the  mind  is 
irresistibly  driven  to  look  on  life,  in  a  godless 
and  soulless  world,  as  a  mockery  or  a  curse. 
We  may  bear  it  bravely,  may  take  what  it  has 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  41 

to  offer  with  a  kind  of  satisfaction ;  but  we 
clearly  perceive  all  the  while,  that,  if  the  Eternal 
is  but  an  idea,  life  is  an  affair  of  hucksters,  in 
which  the  profits  and  pleasures  fall  below  the 
expenses  and  pains ;  a  business  whose  only  pos- 
sible issue  is  bankruptcy. 

If  thou  believest  in  God's  love,  thou  shalt  be 
slow  to  believe  that  any  one  is  excluded  from 
His  boundless  sympathy.  If  not  from  His, 
then  not  from  thine,  if  thou  art  His  servant. 
"When  it  is  asked,"  says  St.  Augustine, 
"whether  one  be  a  good  man,  there  is  not 
question  of  what  he  believes  or  hopes,  but  of 
what  he  loves.  For  he  who  loves  rightly,  rightly 
believes  and  rightly  hopes ;  but  he  who  loves 
not,  believes  in  vain,  hopes  in  vain."  Again : 
"  Little  love  is  little  righteousness ;  great  love  is 
great  righteousness;  perfect  love  is  perfect 
righteousness."  If  I  should  be  willing  to  travel 
around  the  earth  to  talk  with  a  man  of  original 
insight,  I  should  more  gladly  make  the  journey 
to  open  my  heart  to  one  who,  in  spirit  even, 
had  leaned  upon  the  bosom  of  Christ  and  known 
and  felt  the  infinite  love  of  God.  A  music-box 
plays  the  works  of  the  great  composers,  but  it 
is,  after  all,  only  music-box  music.  So  any  self- 
sufficient  man  may  re-utter  the  words  of  Christ ; 
but  spoken  by  such  an  one  they  cease  to  be 
words  of  light  and  life.  It  is  not  enough  that 


42  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

the  sun  is  the  centre  of  intensest  heat;  if  it  is  to 
make  a  habitable  world,  it  must  have  a  proper 
medium  for  the  diffusion  of  its  energy.  The 
soul  never  loses  what  has  been  once  clearly  per- 
ceived or  deeply  felt.  In  whatever  recesses  it 
may  lie  hidden,  it  remains  for  good  or  evil  part 
of  its  life,  and  will,  under  proper  provocation, 
again  emerge  in  consciousness. 

"  One  accent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
The  heedless  world  has  never  lost." 

Teach  me,  O  God  !  to  be  happy  in  all  the 
good  which  thou  givest  to  my  fellowmen,  in  all 
their  joy  and  striving  for  better  things,  in  all 
their  sympathy  and  love,  in  all  their  courage 
and  endurance  of  what  is  hard  to  bear. 

Credulity  is  not  faith,  superstition  is  not 
reverence,  intolerance  is  not  love  of  truth, 
fanaticism  is  not  zeal,  and  ceremony  is  not  the 
worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth;  but  all 
these  things  are  so  blended  and  commingled  in 
the  mind  and  heart  of  man  that  their  separation 
is  difficult.  Hence  the  incredulous  find  faith 
hard,  they  who  have  no  superstition  easily  fail 
in  reverence,  they  who  are  without  intolerance 
become  indifferent,  they  who  have  no  piety  fall 
victims  to  callousness,  and  they  who  have  no 
fixed  form  of  worship  scarcely  worship  at  all. 
The  best,  however,  keep  careful  watch  over 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  43 

themselves,  lest  they  confuse  means  with  ends, 
or  be  blinded  by  the  apparent  to  the  infinite 
hidden  reality,  or  permit  unworthy  passions  to 
obscure  the  presence  of  God  in  the  soul.  They 
throw  the  whole  weight  of  their  lives  on  Him, 
and  strive  day  by  day  to  draw  nearer  to  Him 
through  obedience,  service,  and  love ;  seeing 
Him  in  all  things,  and  feeling  after  Him  with 
all  the  powers  of  their  being. 

It  is  easy  to  follow  a  ritual,  as  it  is  easy  to 
show  that  ritualism  is  insufficient.  The  beautiful 
is  not  the  holy,  and  art  is  not  religion.  A  pure 
soul  is  dearer  to  God  than  the  splendors  of  the 
heavens,  than  whatever  fairest  things  the  hand 
of  man  has  wrought.  But,  nevertheless,  love 
will  clothe  itself  with  beauty,  will  find  symbols 
for  its  worship,  in  the  sun  and  the  stars,  and  the 
flowers,  and  the  many  tinted  shades  of  light; 
it  will  utter  itself  in  melodious  sounds  and  in 
whatever  else  speaks  of  its  gladness  and  exulta- 
tion, its  faith  and  reverence,  its  hope  and  yearn- 
ing. It  will  build  for  itself  a  tabernacle  wherein 
it  may  minister  with  joyful  service ;  and  the 
vesture  wherewith  it  clothes  itself  shields  the 
flame  which  is  its  life.  Hence  the  most  genuine 
and  spiritual  religion  is  not  found  in  those  who 
feel  no  need  of  a  form  of  worship,  but  in  those 
who,  like  the  Psalmist,  call  upon  heaven  and 
earth,  the  mountains  and  the  rivers,  the  birds 


44  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

and  the  beasts  and  their  fellowmen,  to  join  with 
them  to  help  them  show  their  love  and  longing 
for  God.  Religion  is  love ;  and  love  is  humble, 
reverent,  devout,  and  serviceable.  When  it  does 
much,  it  thinks  it  little  ;  when  it  gives  all,  it 
deems  it  naught.  But  i{  the  heart  is  dead,  if 
the  soul  has  fled,  the  ceremony  is  but  mockery, 
the  temple  but  a  tomb;  and,  in  prescribed 
observances,  there  is  always  a  danger  lest  they 
become  formal  and  mechanical,  lest  we  rest  in 
them ;  forgetting  that,  if  they  are  not  the  ex- 
pression of  living  faith  and  love,  they  are  but 
superstitious  rites.  Whether  our  suggestions 
come  from  the  contemplation  of  nature  or  of  the 
world,  from  the  study  of  history  or  the  conver- 
sations of  men,  from  our  own  experience  or  the 
dreams  of  poets,  —  they  will  be  of  many  and 
often  conflicting  kinds ;  and  it  is  for  us  to  choose 
which  we  shall  cherish  and  which  we  shall  reject. 
But,  if  we  are  wise,  we  shall  receive  and  hold 
those  alone  which  make  for  strong,  brave,  and 
joyful  life ;  for,  since  life  is  the  best,  the  supreme 
truth  in  God  Himself,  whatever  enriches  and 
purifies  life  is  good ;  while  what  weakens  and 
degrades  it  is  false  and  hurtful. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THOUGHTS   AND   THEORIES. 

In  life's  fair  garden  still  there  are 
So  many  plots  which  fallow  lie, 
So  many  flowers  which  soon  will  die 

Unless  true  workers  death's  steps  bar. 

And  each  of  us  may  also  find 
In  his  own  heart  so  many  a  spot 
Where  truth  and  love  are  cherished  not, 

To  blank  indifference  resigned. 

EDUCATION  is  mightier  than  man;  in 
other  words,  evolution,  directed  by  con- 
scious will,  is  capable  of  doing  more  than  any 
man  is  capable  of  becoming.  Believe,  then, 
in  education ;  and  let  thy  faith  give  thee  con- 
fidence in  thyself  when  thou  strivest  to  upbuild 
thy  being.  The  young  ask  with  impatience 
how  long  it  will  take  to  finish  their  education ; 
the  wise  are  happy  in  the  knowledge  that  while 
life  lasts  theirs  cannot  end.  Faith  in  what  we 
do  can  alone  guide  us  to  perfect  work.  Who 
shall  forbid  a  man  to  help  his  fellowman?  Who, 
then,  shall  forbid  him  to  teach,  to  educate?  To 
communicate  facts  is  easy  ;  but  the  educator's 
business  is  to  create  dispositions,  and  this  is 


46  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

difficult.  His  aim  is  not  to  make  learning  easy, 
but  to  accustom  the  pupil  to  labor,  since  nothing 
but  a  man's  own  industry  can  develop  his  facul- 
ties or  give  him  strength  and  grasp  of  mind ; 
and  this,  and  not  mere  knowing,  is  the  end  of 
education.  The  teacher's  main  purpose  is  to 
form  habits  of  industry,  which  will  assert  them- 
selves, not  in  the  school  alone,  but  in  the  home 
as  well ;  for  unless  the  young  are  trained  to 
study  at  home,  they  will  soon  cease  to  study  at 
all;  and  this  means  degeneracy  or  ruin.  The 
teacher  who  knows  his  business,  and  is  at  the 
same  time  industrious  and  morally  blameless, 
can  accomplish  incredible  things  if  he  give  him- 
self wholly  to  his  task.  Like  all  true  workers 
he  does  the  best  he  can,  for  love  of  the  work ; 
as  a  mother  devotes  herself,  looking  for  no  other 
reward  than  the  character  her  life  and  counsels 
shall  form  in  her  child.  Faith  in  love,  in  its 
worth  as  the  great  humanizing  power,  makes 
the  mother  the  highest  earthly  source  of  educa- 
tion ;  and  it  is  the  characteristic  of  all  genuine 
teachers.  "  Love,"  says  Pestalozzi,  "  is  the  only, 
the  eternal  foundation  of  the  training  of  our  race 
to  humanity."  "  Love,"  says  Goethe,  "does  not 
rule,  but  it  educates,  and  this  is  more."  The 
educator  is  an  enthusiast,  not  noisy  or  shallow, 
but  deep  and  self-impelled.  His  ideal  is  that 
of  human  perfection.  He  is  in  love  with  noble 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  47 

men  and  women,  and  he  feels  that  it  Is  a  joy 
to  be  alive  when  one  is  permitted  to  labor  to 
bring  forth  the  divine  image  in  himself  and  in 
others. 

To  think  of  education  as  a  means  of  preserv- 
ing institutions,  however  excellent,  is  to  form 
a  wrong  conception  of  its  purpose,  which  is  to 
mould  and  fashion  men,  who  are  more  than 
institutions,  who  create,  outgrow,  and  recreate 
institutions.  Education  concerns  every  one,  not 
for  the  reason  chiefly  that  it  is  a  matter  of  vital 
general  interest,  having  an  immediate  bearing 
on  the  welfare  and  progress  of  every  people  and 
of  the  whole  race ;  but  because  each  one,  if  he 
is  to  become  a  true  man,  must  make  his  own 
education  his  life  work,  to  which  whatever  he 
undertakes  or  does  or  suffers,  must  be  auxiliary. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  subject  not  for  philosophers 
and  schoolmasters,  for  parents  and  citizens 
alone,  but  for  whoever  cherishes  his  human 
nature,  or  aspires  to  perfection,  which  is  attain- 
able only  through  the  development  of  the  facul- 
ties wherewith  God  has  endowed  him.  Every 
man,  therefore,  should  be  an  educator,  —  an 
educator  of  himself;  and  how  shall  he  hope  to 
perform  this  task  wisely,  if  he  remain  ignorant 
of  what  education  means  and  requires.  The 
matter,  indeed,  seems  to  be  simple,  —  but  is 
deep  as  heaven,  as  wide  as  the  world,  and  as 


48  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

complex  as  life.  It  is  the  art  of  right  living, 
the  science  of  whatever  influences  man.  The 
knowledge  which  we  acquire  from  a  desire  for 
knowledge,  enters  into  our  mental  life  and  be- 
comes an  enduring  part  of  ourselves;  while 
what  we  learn  from  vanity  or  emulation,  or  as 
a  means  to  a  livelihood,  does  not  form  character 
or  remain  as  a  permanent  gain.  Education  is  a 
process  of  life-development.  Life  is  developed 
by  nutrition  and  exercise.  The  teacher's  busi- 
ness, therefore,  is  to  rouse  in  the  pupil  a  desire 
for  spiritual  nourishment  and  to  supply  him 
with  it  in  a  way  which  will  impel  him  to  self- 
activity. 

What  does  a  wise  teacher  strive  to  develop  in 
his  scholars?  Ability,  the  power  to  grapple 
with  whatever  questions  and  difficulties,  to  face 
whatever  temptations  and  sufferings,  and  to 
overcome  them  by  doing  and  bearing;  or,  shall 
I  say,  that  it  is  his  aim  to  give  insight  into  the 
meaning  and  worth  of  life,  and  to  form  the 
faculties  whereby  man  asserts  himself  as  an  in- 
telligent, moral,  and  religious  being.  Learning 
about  things  is  of  small  importance;  while  to 
learn  to  use  the  senses,  and  to  turn  the  mind 
on  things,  is  all-important  The  young,  to  be 
deeply  roused,  require  spiritual  ideals ;  and 
they  are  fortunate  when,  in  the  light  of  these 
ideals,  they  are  led  to  understand  what  is  prac- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  49 

tical,  that  their  enthusiasm  for  the  good  and 
the  great  may  be  sustained  by  delight  in  their 
work. 

There  are  few  words  more  abused  than  "  en- 
thusiasm, "  which,  when  rightly  understood,  is 
one  of  the  best  we  have.  As  the  Greeks  used 
it,  it  meant  the  state  of  one  who  is  possessed 
and  inspired  by  a  god.  It  implied,  therefore, 
the  gathering  of  all  the  powers  of  the  soul 
into  a  higher  unity,  and  the  turning  them,  with 
intenser  energy,  whether  to  contemplation  or  to 
action.  In  this  sense  it  is  the  symbol  of  a  mental 
or  moral  condition,  which  is  indispensable  to 
the  achievement  of  aught  that  is  excellent.  It 
alone  supplies  the  impulse  which  steadies  the 
view,  fixes  the  thought,  and  leads  to  life-long 
labor  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  worthy  pur- 
pose. It  does  not  manifest  itself  in  ebullitions 
of  sentiment  or  rhetoric ;  it  is  a  deep  glowing 
fire  rather  than  a  flame ;  it  utters  itself  in  deeds 
more  than  in  words.  It  makes  one  capable  of 
infinite  patience  and  endurance,  and  holds  him 
true  in  the  face  of  whatever  difficulties,  —  stead- 
fast, though  a  world  cry  out  against  him.  It  is 
what  Christ  sought  in  his  disciples;  and  what, 
above  all  else,  he  demanded  of  them  as  the 
natural  and  necessary  result  of  a  living  hope, 
faith,  and  love.  To  understand  a  word  we 
should  know  its  history;  be  able  to  trace  it 
4 


5<D  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

to  the  mother-root  from  which  it  first  sprang, 
and  to  follow  it  through  all  its  variations  of 
form  and  meaning.  So  long  as  we  continue 
to  accept  words  as  purely  conventional  signs, 
we  cannot  come  to  true  insight.  They  are  the 
vesture  the  soul  of  man  has  woven  for  itself; 
the  form  and  body  of  its  experience  in  the 
world ;  the  organ  wherewith  it  utters  itself  and 
becomes  conscious  of  its  life.  To  treat  them 
as  something  agreed  upon  is  to  miss  their  power 
and  beauty.  As  children  we  all  receive  them 
in  an  unthinking  way;  and,  unless  we  recreate 
our  language  for  ourselves,  our  minds  remain 
childish. 

It  is  the  radical  fault  of  our  institutions  of 
learning,  that,  while  they  teach  many  things, 
they  leave  the  mind  and  character  unformed. 
Their  graduates  are  able  to  tell  us  about  phi- 
losophy, poetry,  and  science,  but  they  take  no 
delight  in  the  use  of  their  faculties;  and  hence, 
like  Indians,  who,  having  learned  something  of 
civilized  life,  return  to  their  tribes  but  to  sink 
back  into  the  old  ways,  our  young  men,  when 
they  quit  college,  abandon  all  thought  of  self- 
improvement,  and  are  soon  lost  in  the  crowd ; 
while  others  who  have  not  had  their  opportuni- 
ties, but  are  self-impelled,  keep  at  work  and  rise 
to  distinction.  The  educational  value  of  the 
knowledge  acquired  at  school  is  determined  by 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  51 

its  effect  on  the  pupil's  will.  If  this  is  roused 
and  urged  onward  to  whatever  is  true  and  good, 
the  teacher's  chief  work  is  done.  Suns  and 
planets  contend  with  one  another,  attracting 
and  repelling;  atoms  with  atoms,  elements  with 
elements;  and  in  the  animal  world  there  is 
ceaseless  pursuing  and  fleeing,  struggle  and 
battle,  as  among  men  there  is  rivalry,  conten- 
tion, and  war  between  races,  nations,  classes, 
cities,  families,  and  individuals.  Nay,  within 
each  one's  breast  the  combat  rages,  as  though 
angels  and  demons  fought  for  the  soul.  Thou 
must  defend  thy  life  or  lose  it.  Some  thought 
of  this  kind  was  in  the  mind  of  Malebranche, 
when  he  said  if  he  held  Truth  captive  in  his 
hand,  he  would  let  it  fly,  that  he  might  be  im- 
pelled to  its  pursuit ;  and  Lessing  has  expressed 
the  same  sentiment  in  slightly  different  words. 

"  The  little  quickly  vanishes  from  view 
Of  him  who  sees  how  much  remains  to  do." 

The  study  of  biographies,  which  contain  the 
history  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  growth  of 
those  who  have  nobly  striven  to  improve  them- 
selves, is  an  effective  means  of  education,  and 
much  to  be  commended  to  the  young  who 
desire  to  distinguish  themselves  by  personal 
worth  and  useful  deeds.  It  may  be  that  in  this 
our  but  feebly  creative  time,  the  best  service 


52  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

one  can  render  is  to  inspire  a  love  of  the  best 
books.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of  the  ' 
story  books  written  for  children,  are  worthless 
or  harmful;  and  the  periodical  child-literature 
is  also  as  a  rule  foolish  and  false.  Better  to 
play  or  sleep  or  perform  any  idle  task  than  to 
read  such  things.  Boys  and  girls  who  read  the 
daily  newspapers  are  doomed.  They  may  not 
all  become  idle  or  vicious,  but  none  of  them 
will  become  noble  or  great.  As  well  expect 
them  to  attain  bodily  health  and  vigor  on  a 
diet  of  gin  and  doughnuts.  Stories  and  poetry 
are  the  best  for  them;  but  they  should  be 
works  of  genius  or  lives  of  real  men,  who 
suffered,  toiled,  and  struggled;  who,  in  the 
midst  of  whatever  kind  of  mishaps,  failures, 
and  dangers,  kept  true  to  their  purpose,  con- 
tinuing to  labor  and  to  hope.  The  young  think 
of  life  as  an  opportunity  for  enjoyment  or  for 
improving  one's  position  in  the  world,  never 
turning  their  thoughts  to  its  true  purpose  and 
use,  —  the  upbuilding  of  character,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  mind,  the  refinement  of  the  taste, 
the  subduing  of  selfish  and  sensual  passions, 
and  the  seeking  for  truth,  righteousness,  and 
love.  Truth,  when  deeply  felt  as  being  one 
with  beauty  and  goodness,  utters  itself  rhyth- 
mically and  becomes  poetry,  which  is  music  also  ; 
for  in  its  highest  moods,  the  soul  is  melo- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  53 

dious,  —  its  faculties,  no  longer  separate,  blend 
to  express  themselves  in  divine  symphonies. 
Poetry,  therefore,  appeals  to  the  whole  man, 
the  intellect,  the  imagination,  and  the  heart. 
It  multiplies  joys,  soothes  in  sorrow,  strengthens 
in  trial,  opens  the  eye  to  the  boundless  wealth 
and  beauty  of  the  world,  gives  a  higher  sense 
of  the  worth  of  life,  and  makes  us  more  conscious 
of  God's  presence  in  the  soul.  No  kind  of  life 
is  pleasant  to  him  who  has  not  the  spirit 
whereby  it  may  be  enjoyed;  and  as  there  are 
many  who  see  no  beauty  in  nature,  so  there  are 
many  who  take  no  delight  in  books.  If  thou 
will  but  read  true  and  noble  words  and  repeat 
them  to  thyself  day  by  day,  high  thoughts  will 
grow  into  them  and  fill  them,  as  the  mind 
interfuses  itself  with  the  eye  or  tongue  or  hand 
which  is  kept  worthily  occupied. 

Advice  which  enters  into  details  is  rarely 
useful  and  can  hardly  be  rightly  given,  since 
no  one  can  know  another,  except  in  a  large 
and  general  way.  Besides,  they  who  need 
minute  direction  are  children.  It  is  best  to 
commend  whoever  seeks  thy  counsel,  to  put 
his  faith  in  whatever  things  are  true  or  good 
or  beautiful,  as  being  the  nearest  symbols  of 
God,  and  to  strive  to  come  close  to  them  by 
observation,  reflection,  reading,  prayer,  and 
work,  persevered  in  through  life.  This  is  the 


54  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

plain  rule  of  life :  Find  and  do  the  highest 
work  of  which  thou  art  capable.  •  How  shalt 
thou  find  it?  By  doing  with  all  thy  heart  that 
which  lies  at  hand.  Perseverance,  industry, 
and  labor  accomplish  more  than  genius ;  they 
are  the  elements  which  make  its  life  possible. 
When  Ruskin  was  told  that  a  certain  man  was  a 
genius,  he  simply  asked:  Does  he  work?  For 
whoever  loves  purely  or  strives  bravely  or  does 
honest  work,  life's  current  bears  fresh  and 
fragrant  thoughts.  His  pulse-beats  are  rhyth- 
mical with  the  courses  of  the  planets;  and  in  his 
deepest  heart  he  hears  as  in  echo  the  songs 
of  celestial  spirits  hymning  the  blessedness  of 
immortal  souls.  Forget  thyself,  forget  thy 
little  pains  and  miseries,  and  address  thy  mind 
to  truth  and  thy  heart  to  love,  and  thou  shalt 
understand  that  God  is  here;  that  the  flowers 
look  up  to  Him  and  laugh;  that  the  waters 
feel  His  presence  and  are  glad,  and  that  the 
atoms  all  thrill  at  His  touch.  Be  not  frightened, 
like  a  child  when  the  door  is  shut,  because  He 
hides  behind  the  veil ;  but  occupy  thyself  with 
what  is  good,  and  when  thy  task  is  done, 
He  will  show  Himself.  He  who  grows  old, 
still  learning,  finds  that  the  years  grow  shorter, 
and  he  would,  were  it  possible,  stay  them  in 
their  flight;  but  to  the  youth  in  college  they 
seem  unending,  and  he  would  gladly  see  them 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  55 

shrink  to  weeks  or  days.  Why?  He  who 
grows  old,  still  learning,  takes  delight  in  his 
work;  whereas  the  youth  studies  unwillingly, 
accepting  his  task  in  the  spirit  of  a  slave,  and 
looking  upon  himself  as  a  prisoner,  longing  to 
be  set  free.  "  If,"  says  Ruskin,  "  there  is  any 
one  point  which  in  six  thousand  years  of  think- 
ing about  right  and  wrong,  wise  and  good  men 
have  agreed  upon,  or  successively  by  experi- 
ence discovered,  it  is  that  God  dislikes  idle  and 
cruel  people  more  than  any  other;  that  His 
first  order  is,  Work  while  you  have  light,  and 
His  second,  Be  merciful  while  you  have 
mercy." 

The  whole  aim  and  purpose  of  the  educator 
is  to  foster  life,  to  so  deal  with  each  individual 
as  to  increase  his  power  of  life  and  to  heighten 
his  quality  of  life ;  and  hence  in  giving  instruc- 
tion he  considers  chiefly  its  life-nourishing  and 
life-improving  efficacy.  There  is  an  outer  and 
an  inner  knowledge.  The  former  is  that  of 
children  and  thoughtless  persons,  who  know 
only  about  things.  The  inner  belongs  to  those 
who  have  wrought  their  intuitions  and  experi- 
ences, together  with  whatever  information  they 
have  received,  into  the  substance  of  their  life. 
What  we  teach  ourselves  gives  the  purest  joy 
and  best  nourishes  the  mind.  Once  we  have 
gotten  some  insight  into  this  power  of  self- 


56  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

vivification,  which  each  one  might  have,  we 
come  of  age,  learn  to  create  our  world  wherein 
we  become  truth-loving  and  love-worthy.  As 
it  is  a  father's  glory  to  find  in  his  son  a  nobler 
kind  of  being  than  he  himself  is,  so  is  the  true 
educator  made  happy  when  he  is  able  to  call 
forth  in  his  pupil  a  higher  humanity  than  that 
which  he  himself  possesses.  Teacher,  educate 
thyself.  In  bending  with  a  brave  heart  to  this 
life-task,  thou  shalt  find  not  only  guidance  and 
illumination  in  thy  work  for  others,  but  an  un- 
failing source  of  enthusiasm,  without  which  thou 
canst  not  be  a  former  of  immortal  souls,  but 
merely  a  hearer  and  exactor  of  lessons ;  not  a 
sower  of  the  seed  of  truth  and  love,  but  a 
grinder  of  corn  which  can  never  take  root  and 
bear  a  hundred  fold. 

Like  priest,  like  people ;  like  teacher,  like 
pupil.  We  acquire  the  virtues  of  our  friends 
and  the  vices  of  our  enemies ;  but  as  vice  is 
easy  and  virtue  difficult,  we  are  more  apt  to 
be  corrupted  by  those  with  whom  we  contend 
than  to  be  improved  by  those  we  love.  In  the 
teacher  we  require  not  only  a  cultivated  mind, 
but  a  complete  man,  —  wise,  estimable,  brave, 
generous,  and,  above  all,  loving.  As  the  race 
advances  in  knowledge  and  power,  education 
becomes  more  many-sided  and  difficult;  but  it 
becomes,  also,  more  indispensable ;  for  the  de- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  57 

mands  made  upon  the  individual  become  more 
urgent  and  manifold.  Whatever  goes  to  the 
making  of  a  man  is  subject  to  the  law  of  de- 
velopment, and  may,  therefore,  be  educated,  — 
body  and  soul,  mind  and  heart,  spirit  and  dis- 
position, inclination  and  will,  which  are  all  in- 
tertwined and  interdependent.  And  hence  the 
teacher  must  direct  his  thought  to  them  all,  for, 
as  Montaigne  says,  it  is  not  a  body  or  a  soul, 
but  a  man  that  he  has  to  educate.  Since  edu- 
cation is  essentially  self-education,  the  teacher 
has  little  more  to  do  than  to  guide  the  pupil  in 
the  art  and  practice  of  self-vivification.  He 
who  strives  unwearyingly  to  make  himself  more 
knowing,  more  loving,  and  more  helpful,  be- 
comes conscious  of  ever-increasing  inner  strength 
and  joy.  Wise  and  happy  in  himself,  he  will 
draw  others  to  him  to  inspire  and  bless  them 
with  higher  thoughts  and  nobler  courage.  He 
alone  who  feels  that  to  form  and  cultivate  him- 
self is  an  ever-present  duty,  is  conscious  of  a 
vocation  to  work  for  the  education  of  others. 
No  one  does  well  who  is  not  impelled  by  faith 
in  the  worth  of  what  he  does ;  and  he  who  has 
faith  in  education  must  show  it  first  of  all  by 
the  efforts  which  he  makes  to  improve  himself. 
We  are  all  under  the  formative  influences  of 
Nature,  reason,  and  God ;  and  the  more  con- 
sciously and  fully  we  yield  to  these  influences, 
the  higher  do  we  rise  in  dignity  of  being. 


58  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

Thoroughness  of  knowledge  and  consummate 
skill  are  not  the  only  ends  of  education.  We 
have,  besides  the  faculty  of  knowing,  the  fac- 
ulties of  willing,  loving,  hoping,  and  believing ; 
besides  intellect  and  physical  strength,  we  have 
imagination  and  conscience ;  and  all  these  must 
be  cultivated  if  we  are  to  form  a  true  man. 
Principle  has  higher  worth  than  knowledge, 
and  a  loving  heart  is  better  than  much  gold. 
Genuine  education  is  that  which  trains  to  god- 
liness and  virtue,  to  truthfulness  and  the  love 
of  spiritual  beauty  ;  for  this  makes  a  man,  and 
all  else  is  incidental.  Popular  ideals  are  never 
true  ideals ;  and  it  is  the  business  of  the  educa- 
tor to  lead  his  pupils  to  a  knowledge  of  higher 
things  than  those  the  crowd  seeks.  While  he 
inculcates  patriotism  he  must  hold  their  minds 
and  hearts  close  to  the  eternal  principles,  which 
make  all  men  akin  and  citizens  of  God's  state. 
The  higher  we  rise  the  more  we  feel  ourselves 
men,  and  the  less  we  think  of  ourselves  as 
belonging  to  a  party  or  a  nation.  The  best 
patriot  is  he  who  is  most  truly  a  man. 

Public  opinion  is  made  up  of  truth  and  error, 
and  it  is  the  business  of  the  wise  to  separate  the 
genuine  from  the  false.  There  is  nothing  either 
so  fair  or  so  useful  as  a  knowing  and  loving 
man ;  and  therefore,  the  education  which  best 
helps  to  form  such  an  one  is  in  every  way  the 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  59 

most  desirable.  We  know  the  history  of  edu- 
cation, even  in  its  minute  details ;  but  when  we 
come  to  establish  a  system  of  our  own,  we 
waver,  disagree,  and  grope  helplessly;  and  the 
outcome  seems  to  be  that  no  people  has  ever 
taught  so  much  or  educated  so  little.  Love, 
filial  piety,  devoutness,  sympathy,  gentleness, 
patience,  courage,  obedience,  serviceableness, 
and  chastity  are  not  the  fruits  of  intellectual 
culture,  but  may  be  found  in  greater  purity  in 
simple  hearts  than  in  learned  minds. 

Dost  thou  think  it  desirable  to  be  born  rich, 
or  to  attain  political  or  commercial  distinction 
and  influence?  Canst  thou  not  see  that  they 
who  are  born  rich,  or  who  attain  political  or 
commercial  distinction,  rarely  become  true  men, 
but  lack  the  best  insight  and  the  highest  virtue? 
Be  thankful,  then,  for  what  in  thy  youth  thou 
didst  hold  to  be  disadvantages  and  obstacles ; 
for  to  them  thou  owest  thy  vocation  to  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge  and  the  striving  for  ex- 
cellence. But  the  smallest  part  of  self  emerges 
in  consciousness ;  and  the  relation  of  our  sub- 
conscious life  to  God  and  our  fellowmen  has  a 
more  important  bearing  on  character  than  any- 
thing we  understand.  To  imagine,  then,  that 
we  educate  when  we  do  nothing  but  sharpen 
the  intellect  is  a  shallow  conceit.  Wiser  than 
the  knowing  are  they  who  feel  God's  presence 


60  LIFE   AND   EDUCATION. 

and  man's  sacredness,  and  who  walk  in  reverence 
and  in  lowliness  of  spirit. 

Once  we  have  acquired  the  habit  of  inner 
attention,  a  thousand  truths  come  to  us  without 
our  seeking.  Life  develops  from  within,  and  he 
who  would  educate  must  work  upon  the  soul. 
Duty,  honor,  liberty,  reason,  culture,  progress, 
truth,  and  love  are  thought  values.  We  cannot 
see,  hear,  taste,  smell,  or  touch  them.  Are 
they,  therefore,  abstractions  and  illusions?  Are 
they  not  rather  the  most  real  of  things,  —  the 
life  of  our  life  and  the  soul  of  our  being?  A 
wise  mother  acquaints  herself  with  proverbs, 
and  lets  them  drop  in  due  season,  like  ripe 
seed,  into  the  hearts  of  her  children.  She  will 
also  sing  to  them  old  songs,  full  of  aspiration 
and  yearning,  of  faith  in  what  is  high  and  true ; 
and  she  will  read  short  poems  to  them,  but 
only  the  best.  Let  her,  then,  be  a  good  reader 
as  well  as  a  sweet  singer. 

It  seems  doubtful  whether  a  woman  who 
cannot  sing  and  who  does  not  love  poetry,  has 
the  right  to  marry.  If  she  have  no  music  in 
herself,  how  shall  she  learn  to  be  a  mother? 
How  shall  she  touch  the  hidden  springs  of 
harmony  which  lie  within  the  souls  of  children? 
If  we  did  but  take  these  little  ones  to  our  hearts 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Divine  Saviour,  we  might 
form  a  race  of  men  who  would  establish  the 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  6 1 

Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  What  we  all  require 
as  the  indispensable  condition  of  healthful  grow- 
ing life  is  vital  sympathy  with  God,  with  our 
family,  with  our  people,  with  the  whole  human 
brotherhood.  But  the  world  grasps  us,  in  our 
youth,  with  a  thousand  hands,  to  shape  us  after 
its  own  fashion;  and  it  is  miraculous  if  one 
escape,  and  in  the  pure  air  of  study  and  all 
noble  effort,  rise  heavenward. 

Learn  to  look,  to  listen,  to  hear,  and  to  exer- 
cise thyself,  and  thou  shalt  soon  perceive  that 
earth  is  but  a  training  ground  whereon  God 
has  placed  thee  that  thou  mayst  grow  strong, 
wise,  and  good.  None  of  us  fathom  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  of  the  Saviour.  "  They  have 
eyes  and  see  not,  ears  and  hear  not.'*  If  we 
would  but  look  and  listen  within  and  without, 
we  should  quickly  know  that  God  is  with  us, 
and  that  all  He  asks  us  to  do  is  to  love  and  to 
grow.  Be  persuaded,  in  thy  deepest  heart,  that 
there  is  no  individual,  no  people,  no  race,  that 
is  not  worthy  to  be  loved  and  educated,  rather 
than  to  be  scorned  and  held  in  darkness  and 
bondage. 

In  1725,  a  party  of  hunters  found  a  youth,  of 
about  fifteen  years,  in  the  woods,  near  Hamelin, 
Germany.  He  was  naked,  ran  on  all  fours, 
swung  himself,  like  a  monkey,  from  tree  to  tree, 
and  ate  moss  and  grass.  When  he  was  caught 


62  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

and  taken  to  England,  he  tore  off  the  clothes 
that  were  put  on  him  and  continued  to  devour 
his  food  raw.  The  king  placed  him  under  the 
tuition  of  Dr.  Arbuthnot;  but,  though  he  lived 
to  be  seventy,  he  never  learned  to  talk. 

In  1687,  a  boy  about  twelve  years  old  was 
discovered,  living  with  beasts,  in  the  forest  of 
Grodno,  Russia.  He  was  captured  and  taken 
to  Warsaw.  His  hair  was  very  thick  and  white, 
his  fingers  long,  his  forehead  of  average  dimen- 
sion, and  his  voice  like  the  growl  of  a  bear. 
He  ran  on  all  fours,  and  it  was  with  much  diffi- 
culty that  he  was  taught  to  walk  upright,  though 
his  physical  development  was  perfect.  He  ate 
grass,  and  was  fond  of  raw  meat  and  vegetables. 
It  took  much  time  and  trouble  to  teach  him  to 
utter  articulate  sounds,  and  violence  had  to  be 
used  to  get  him  to  wear  clothes. 

In  1731,  a  girl,  about  ten  years  old,  appeared 
in  the  village  of  Songi,  in  Champagne,  France. 
She  was  barefooted,  and  her  body  was  covered 
with  rags  and  pieces  of  hide.  In  her  hand  she 
held  a  club,  and  when  a  dog  rushed  at  her,  she 
stood  firm,  and  with  a  single  blow  laid  him  dead 
at  her  feet.  She  then  fled  into  the  fields,  climbed 
a  tree,  and  soon  fell  asleep.  Having  been  in- 
duced to  descend  and  enter  a  neighboring 
castle,  she  strangled  a  rabbit  which  was  handed 
to  her  and  ate  it  raw.  She  was  of  robust  con- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  63 

stitution,  and  her  thumbs  were  exceptionally 
strong,  due  doubtless  to  her  habit  of  climbing. 
She  sprang  with  ease  from  tree  to  tree ;  and 
was  so  quick  that  she  caught  birds  on  the  wing, 
or  plunging  into  the  water  seized  fishes,  which 
she  at  once  devoured.  She  could  not  speak, 
but  emitted  only  inarticulate  sounds.  These 
are  examples  of  what  we  should  all  be  were 
it  not  for  education. 

Pleasure  springs  from  the  satisfaction  of  de- 
sire. The  craving  for  food  is  universal:  so, 
therefore,  is  the  pleasure  of  eating;  but  this 
man  has  in  common  with  the  brute.  His 
humanity  appears  with  the  desire  for  what  is 
spiritual,  for  truth,  freedom,  beauty,  and  right- 
eousness. The  animal  appetites  are  soon  ap- 
peased ;  and  then  they  leave  us  sluggish,  until 
hunger  or  thirst  or  sexual  desire  rouse  us  again. 
The  pleasure  their  gratification  gives  is  heavy 
and  monotonous.  Hence  they  who  live  in  the 
sensual  nature  soon  exhaust  what  is  to  be  found 
there,  and  become  victims  of  satiety  and  ennui. 
To  escape  from  themselves  they  go  into  com- 
pany, take  refuge  in  pastimes,  assist  at  spec- 
tacles, or  travel  in  foreign  lands.  But  what 
exile  from  himself  can  flee?  Wherever  they 
go,  whatever  they  do,  they  bear  with  them 
the  weight  of  their  animalism,  and  drag  the 
lengthening  chain  of  their  slavish  passions. 


64  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

There  is  no  redemption  for  them,  unless  we  can 
awaken  in  them  the  desire  for  what  is  spiritual, 
for  truth,  freedom,  beauty,  and  righteousness. 

Intellectual  delight,  the  joy  there  is  in  simply 
knowing  a  thing,  is  tasted  by  few;  but  they 
who  are  insensible  to  this  pleasure  lack  im- 
pulse to  the  exercise  of  mind  which  makes 
culture  possible.  For  them  ignorance  is  not 
suffering,  and  mental  effort  is  pain.  Why 
should  the  daily  happenings  interest  and  occupy 
thee,  if  in  themselves  they  are  unimportant? 
A  week  hence  they  will  be  forgotten.  Why 
then  let  them  rob  thee  now  of  the  time  which, 
rightly  employed,  would  make  thee  wise  and 
strong?  Children  may  run  to  the  window  to 
watch  the  flight  of  an  insect;  but  why  should 
men  and  women  allow  their  time  and  strength 
to  be  dissipated  by  the  noise  of  gossip,  by  tales 
of  trifles  signifying  nothing?  Thought  prospers 
best  in  solitude ;  but  the  thinker  is  alone  in  the 
midst  of  crowds.  To  know  how  to  improve 
and  correct  with  skill  and  tact,  in  the  spirit  of 
kindly  tolerance,  the  judgments,  appreciations, 
and  surmises  of  the  young,  is  to  be  able  to 
render  them  important  service,  since  in  this 
way  they  may  best  be  taught  to  see  things  as 
they  are,  and  to  think  for  themselves.  All 
teaching  is  a  demonstration,  a  leading  to  the 
right  point  of  view,  while  we  say,  Now  look, 
and  tell  me  what  you  see. 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  65 

What  we  do  not  see  ourselves  we  never  see 
at  all ;  for,  even  when  we  look  through  the  eyes 
of  another,  it  is  with  our  own  that  we  see.  In 
the  home,  in  the  school,  in  the  church,  and  in 
the  State,  the  individual  is  taught  that  it  is 
necessary  to  have  regard  not  to  himself  alone, 
but  to  the  whole  body  of  which  he  is  a  member. 
If  he  prefer  himself  to  the  general  welfare,  he  is 
made  to  feel  that  his  private  good  is  attainable 
only  in  the  community,  that  it  can  be  well  with 
him  only  when  it  is  well  with  those  with  whom 
he  lives  and  is  associated.  Hence  in  the  home 
and  the  school,  as  in  the  larger  organisms,  there 
should  be  no  privilege,  no  partiality;  otherwise 
the  sense  of  order  and  justice  is  offended.  In 
this  way  alone  can  we  train  the  young  to  obe- 
dience, attention,  respect,  and  politeness.  They 
are  far  less  impressed  by  what  they  hear  us  say 
than  by  what  they  see  us  do.  They  are  all 
eyes,  and  words  have  for  them  but  vague 
meanings. 

Since  the  mother  teaches  the  child  her  lan- 
guage, how  is  it  possible  not  to  impart  the 
living  content  of  her  speech,  —  her  faith,  love, 
and  religion?  If  in  the  home  this  inner  educa- 
tion is  neglected,  no  real  education  is  given 
there.  We  can  educate  for  a  larger  environment 
only  by  teaching  the  young  to  adapt  themselves 
to  one  which  is  smaller.  The  home  should 
5 


66  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

educate  for  the  school,  the  school  for  the  church 
and  the  State,  the  church  and  the  State  for  the 
human  race  and  God.  A  fondness  for  slang  is 
a  characteristic  of  crude  minds  or  of  the  degen- 
erate. The  correct  use  of  language  springs 
from  right  thinking  and  right  feeling.  But  if 
we  are  to  speak  our  mother  tongue  with  propriety 
and  grace,  our  mothers  must  be  our  teachers. 
The  home  is  the  fountain-head  of  English  pure 
and  undefiled.  Language  is  the  motherhouse 
and  fatherland  of  the  mind.  It  is  the  body 
which  it  must  nourish,  exercise,  and  get  control 
of,  that  it  may  itself  possess  vigor  and  suppleness. 
Things  reveal  themselves  in  distinctness  only 
when  they  are  clothed  in  words.  Our  knowl- 
edge floats  from  us  like  dissolving  vapors  unless 
we  imprison  it  in  speech.  The  name  is  wedded 
to  the  thing,  and  the  union  is  inviolable.  We 
think  in  wrords,  and  without  them  our  percep- 
tions are  rudimentary,  our  ideas  unreal,  our  opin- 
ions inarticulate.  Verbal  utterance  expresses 
the  mind  as  the  countenance  reveals  the  soul. 
It  is  a  currency  whose  value  is  everywhere  recog- 
nized. It  is  the  bond  which  knits  individuals 
into  wholes,  in  the  family,  in  the  church,  in  the 
State.  It  is  the  music  which  we  most  love  to 
hear,  whether  it  greet  us  from  the  lips  of 
children,  of  maidens,  and  of  youths,  or  rise  like 
organ-tones  from  the  breasts  of  orators  and  the 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  6/ 

hearts  of  poets,  or  whisper  in  the  gentle  voices 
of  mothers  and  lovers,  or  fall  like  echoes  from 
eternal  worlds,  when  believing  souls  pour  their 
orisons  to  God.  It  winds  itself  about  the 
thousand  little  things  which  make  our  human 
life,  and  widens  to  embrace  the  universe,  bring- 
ing it  close  to  the  mind  of  man.  It  lends  itself 
to  all  colors  and  forms;  adapts  itself  to  all 
moods ;  is  tender  or  harsh  or  weak  or  strong. 
It  interprets  the  voice  of  the  thunder,  the 
dreams  of  the  night,  the  gladness  of  the  stars, 
the  dawn's  shout  of  victory.  It  is  the  vesture 
which  the  soul  has  woven  for  itself,  taking 
invisible  atoms  and  moulding  them  into  sounds 
which  mediate  between  the  seen  and  the  un- 
seen, the  finite  and  the  infinite.  In  the  works 
of  genius,  where  it  is  found  in  perfection,  it  is  a 
mirror  wherein  the  mind  sees  itself,  not  in 
isolation  and  nakedness,  but  in  the  marvellous 
setting  in  which  God  has  placed  it  in  the  midst 
of  His  Universe.  It  is  not  merely  the  instru- 
ment, the  sole  instrument,  I  may  say,  wherewith 
our  own  thoughts  can  be  rightly  expressed  and 
those  of  others  made  intelligible ;  but  it  is  the 
one  means  by  which  we  are  made  conscious 
of  what  we  think  and  love.  It  is  more  wonderful 
than  the  celestial  harmonies  of  which  poets 
dream.  Learn  to  treat  it  with  respect,  and 
speak  no  false  or  harsh  or  mutilated  word. 


68  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Children  understand  what  is  base  better  than 
what  is  simply  wrong;  and  an  effectual  way  to 
turn  them  from  vice  is  to  show  them  that  it  is 
degrading,  as  the  Spartans  brought  drunken 
Helots  before  their  youths  to  fill  them  with  dis- 
gust for  what  they  grew  accustomed  to  consider 
a  vice  of  a  servile  race.  Let  the  young  be  made 
to  feel  that  ignorance  is  a  gross  and  animal  thing, 
that  lying  and  deceit  are  cowardly  and  ignoble, 
that  careless  work  is  dishonest  and  waste  of 
time,  sheer  idiocy.  It  is  a  mistake  to  weary 
children  with  lessons  of  morality  and  religion ; 
for,  if  they  once  get  a  distaste  for  such  truth,  it 
will  hardly  be  possible  to  impress  them  with  a 
sense  of  its  importance.  We  educate  morally 
when  we  hold  the  pupil  to  what  is  right,  and 
accustom  him  to  do  what  duty  commands. 
Character  is  moulded  by  deeds,  not  by  doc- 
trines. The  habit  of  facing  danger  makes  the 
veteran  braver  than  the  raw  recruit;  the  habit 
of  facing  truth  makes  the  philosopher  wiser 
than  the  boor;  the  habit  of  facing  conscience 
makes  the  saint  holier  than  the  worldling;  the 
habit  of  facing  beauty  gives  the  poet  diviner 
insight  than  the  common  man  may  have;  the 
habit  of  labor,  in  whatever  sphere,  is  the  source 
of  excellence.  We  do  not  naturally  love  work ; 
for  work  is  effort,  and  effort  is  painful.  We, 
therefore,  have  to  be  educated  to  work;  and 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  69 

to  teach  the  young  to  labor  in  obedience  to 
the  voice  of  duty  is  one  of  the  main  purposes 
for  which  the  school  exists.  Hence  unless  it  is 
to  become  a  place  of  perversion,  it  must  be  a 
realm  of  order,  punctuality,  obedience,  and  in- 
dustry, where  attention  and  interest  are  kept 
constantly  awake.  In  such  a  school,  work 
grows  to  be  a  habit;  and  delight  in  work  is 
the  result.  Sloth  is  a  radical  vice,  —  it  bars 
the  way  to  the  exercise  of  our  higher  faculties 
in  every  direction;  it  is  the  chief  obstacle  in 
the  path  of  progress  of  all  kinds.  We  do  well 
only  what  we  do  with  our  whole  heart;  and  the 
teacher's  work  lacks  the  best  quality  unless  he 
loves  his  calling  and  works  gladly  therein. 
The  heart  makes  the  orator,  and  it  makes  the 
teacher  too.  It  is  a  weakness  in  our  present 
life  that  few  work  with  a  cheerful  and  con- 
tented spirit  at  the  tasks  they  have  chosen. 
Whatever  his  occupation  or  vocation,  each  one 
has  his  thought  upon  more  money  or  higher 
place  or  a  larger  city  to  dwell  in,  and  is  there- 
fore restless.  He  loses  the  good  of  life  in  striv- 
ing for  life's  accompaniments. 

To  nearly  all  of  us  who  succeed  a  little  the 
devil  sends  tempters  in  the  guise  of  friends  to 
whisper  that  our  worth  is  not  recognized,  as 
though  title  or  position  could  be  other  than  a 
burden  and  hindrance  for  those  who  live  within 


7O  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

themselves  and  have  real  merit.  The  teacher, 
who,  'having  a  competency,  turns  his  attention 
to  an  increase  of  salary,  has  nothing  of  the  true 
educator's  enthusiasm.  A  physician  or  a  law- 
yer who  possesses  exceptional  skill  may  be 
forced  in  self-defence  to  make  his  fees  large; 
but  money  cannot  secure  the  service  of  the 
best  teachers,  for  other  things  are  of  more 
importance  to  them ;  freedom,  for  instance, 
and  leisure,  and  the  spirit  of  the  institution  in 
which  they  labor.  The  genius  of  the  spot 
affects  them.  Their  wants  are  few,  their  tastes 
inexpensive ;  and  they  easily  prefer  a  small  to 
a  large  city,  because  its  atmosphere  is  more 
favorable  to  recollection  and  study,  to  mental 
and  moral  growth. 

"When  I  hear  Socrates,"  said  Alcibiades, 
"  my  heart  leaps  higher  than  the  Corybants,  and 
my  eyes  fill  with  tears ;  and  I  see  that  he  affects 
others  in  the  same  way.  I  tear  myself  from 
him  with  violence  and  flee,  holding  my  ears, 
as  from  the  Songs  of  Sirens,  lest  I  grow  old 
sitting  there  listening  to  him."  To  meet  with 
such  a  teacher  is  the  best  fortune  which  can 
fall  to  the  young,  as  the  worst  is  to  be  delivered 
up  to  mechanical  and  pedantic  minds  by  whom 
their  spiritual  being  is  blighted. 

To  know  how  to  teach,  to  teach  well, —  this 
is  the  schoolmaster's  whole  business.  If  he 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  Jl 

teach  well  he  will  also  live  well,  since  only  a 
good  man  can  have  the  disinterested  love  of 
truth  and  of  human  perfection,  which  makes 
right  teaching  possible.  Good  teachers  and 
good  teaching  educate;  bad  teachers  and  bad 
teaching  benumb,  warp,  and  pervert.  This  is 
the  sum  of  all  our  pedagogical  science  and  art. 
They  who  neglect  to  educate  themselves  would, 
if  they  were  not  shameless  as  well  as  ignorant, 
make  no  pretence  to  be  friends  and  lovers  of 
education.  The  teacher  should  be  what  he 
desires  to  help  his  pupils  to  become ;  yet  must 
he  not  be  a"  finished  man,  but  a  learner  and 
striven  Not  a  poem  or  a  statue  or  a  paint- 
ing, not  a  philosophy  or  a  science  or  a  polit- 
ical constitution,  is  the  highest  achievement 
of  man ;  the  noblest  work  of  man  is  a  noble 
man. 

When  Antipater  demanded  of  the  Spartans 
fifty  of  their  youths  as  hostages,  they  offered 
him  instead  a  hundred  of  their  principal  men, 
being  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  rather  than 
deprive  their  children  of  the  advantages  of 
Spartan  training.  They  could  have  given  no 
better  proof  of  their  love  of  country  or  of  their 
faith  in  its  institutions.  What  a  man  genuinely 
believes  to  be  the  best,  he  strives  to  provide  for 
his  children,  whether  it  be  money  or  culture  or 
religion.  They  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  faith 


72  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

who  feel  not  an  irresistible  impulse  to  transmit 
to  their  descendants  what  they  believe  to  be  the 
highest  and  the  holiest.  Education  is  an  art 
more  than  it  is  a  scientific  theory;  and,  unless 
one  is  born  with  talent  for  an  art,  study  will  not 
enable  him  to  pursue  it  with  more  than  mod- 
erate success.  The  number  of  born  teachers^ 
however,  is  not  great;  and  nothing  is  left  us 
but  to  train,  as  best  we  may,  those  who  lack 
power  to  interest,  to  command  attention,  and 
to  create  enthusiasm.  Socrates  sent  a  youth 
back  to  his  father,  saying:  "I  can  teach  him 
nothing,  he  does  not  love  me."  Whatever 
we  teach,  the  young  should  be  clothed  in 
beauty.  They  delight  in  sunlight  and  flowers, 
their  hearts  leap  forth  to  all  fair  and  happy 
things;  and  though  we  may  compel  them  to 
accept,  we  can  never  make  them  love  what  is 
harsh  or  gloomy.  The  stronger  the  personal- 
ity of  the  teacher,  the  more  disposed  will  he 
be  to  concede  them  freedom,  contenting  him- 
self with  being  their  leader.  Tyranny  is  the 
result  of  fear,  of  the  fear  which  wrong  and  cru- 
elty beget  in  their  author,  or  of  the  fear  which 
is  born  of  the  tyrant's  consciousness  of  his 
weakness.  To  make  a  man  we  must  risk  the 
spoiling  of  a  youth. 

"  Before  each  one  an  image  floats  of  what  he  ought  to  be, 
And  till  he  this  attains,  his  life  is< never  full  and  free." 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  73 

As  Socrates  was  walking  with  some  of  his 
disciples  in  the  gardens  of  Pericles,  the  conver- 
sation turned  upon  art  and  its  divine  beauties. 
"  Tell  us,"  said  Alcibiades,  with  a  smile,  "  tell 
us,  O  Socrates !  how  thou  earnest  to  make 
the  statues  of  the  Graces;  and  why,  having 
finished  thy  masterpiece,  thou  didst  abandon 
art.  Would  thou  hadst  given  us  also  the  god- 
dess of  Wisdom  !  "  "I  will  relate,"  replied 
Socrates,  "  the  story  of  my  art,  and  thou  shalt 
then  decide,  Alcibiades,  whether  it  would  be 
well  for  me  again  to  grasp  the  mallet  and  chisel. 
As  a  youth  I  loved  art  with  all  my  heart,  and 
was  accustomed  to  visit  the  workshops  of  the 
masters  and  the  temples  of  the  gods ;  for  in 
those  I  hoped  to  receive  instruction,  and  in 
these  divine  enthusiasm.  With  this  view  I  went 
one  day  to  a  little  temple  on  the  boundary  of 
Attica,  dedicated  to  the  Graces.  The  simplicity 
of  its  form  invited  me,  and  I  said  to  myself, 
'  Though  thou  find  nothing  for  thy  art  —  for  how 
could  a  marble  statue  have  strayed  hither?  — 
yet  mayest  thou  nourish  and  cultivate  here  a  taste 
for  simplicity,'  since  this,  as  I  thought,  should 
not  be  lacking  in  an  artist.  At  the  door  of  the 
little  temple  an  old  man  of  venerable  and 
friendly  countenance  met  me.  '  What  seekest 
thou  here,  my  son?  '  he  inquired  with  a  gentle 
voice.  I  told  him  that  I  was  an  art-student,  and 


74  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

that  I  had  sought  the  temple  to  improve  myself. 

*  It  is  well,  my  son/  he  replied,  *  that  thou  be- 
ginnest  with  thyself  and  approachest  the  god- 
like to    produce  it  in  thyself,  before  thou  at- 
temptest  to  body  it   forth.     Thy  efforts    shall 
not  go  unrewarded.     I  will  show  thee  what  else- 
where in  all  Greece  thou  shouldst  look  for  in 
vain,  —  the  first  and  oldest  statues  of  the  Graces/ 
Thereupon  he  pointed  to  three  square  rough- 
hewn    stones,    and    said :    *  Behold,  there  they 
are/     I  looked  at  him  and  was  silent.     But  he 

:  smiled  and  continued :  '  Dost  thou  find  it  strange 
that  the  godlike  should  have  been  in  the  heart 
of  man  before  his  tongue  or  his  hand  could  give 
it  expression?  Well,  show  thy  reverence  for  it, 
by  endowing  it  with  a  worthier  form.  I  am  the 
priest  of  this  temple ;  my  duty  calls  me  now.' 
He  went,  and  left  me  in  an  unwonted  mood. 
Returning  to  Athens,  I  made  the  statues  of  the 
Graces.  You  know  them.  I  took  them  to  the 
priest  as  an  offering  for  the  temple,  and  pre- 
sented them  to  him  with  a  trembling  hand. 

*  Well  done,  my  son,'  said  the  friendly  old  man ; 
'  thou  hast  accomplished  thy  task  with  industry 
and   zeal.     But,'  he  continued,  with  a  serious 
air,   'tell  me,  hast  thou  also  satisfied  thyself?' 
'  Alas  !  no/  I  replied  ;  '  I  have  a  nobler  image  in 
my  soul,  to  which  I  feel  that  the  hand  is  powerless 
to  give  form.'     The  venerable  man  laid  his  hand 


THOUGHTS  AND   THEORIES.  75 

upon  my  shoulder  and  spoke  with  indescribable 
grace.  '  Well,  then,  take  thy  statues  to  the 
halls  of  the  rich  men  of  Athens,  and  leave  us 
our  stones.  We,  my  son,  in  our  simplicity, 
have  faith,  and  the  plainest  symbol  suffices; 
but  they  have  only  knowledge,  and,  therefore, 
need  the  work  of  art  To  thee  I  give  this 
counsel :  Learn  to  know  the  divine  germ  which 
lies  in  thee  and  in  every  human  heart ;  cherish 
it,  and  thou  shalt  produce  the  godlike  within  and 
without  thyself/  He  left  me,  and  I  returned 
with  my  statues,  meditating  the  words  of  the 
old  man,  who  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  god.  I 
stood  a  whole  night  beneath  the  stars,  and  as 
the  sun  rose  it  became  clear  within  my  soul 
also.  I  recognized  the  eternal  Grace,  Love, 
within  and  without  myself.  I  prayed,  hastened 
home,  laid  my  mallet  and  chisel  at  the  feet  of 
my  statues  of  the  Graces,  and,  coming  forth, 
found  you,  my  dear  friends  and- disciples.  Are 
ye  not  the  noblest  expression  of  the  divine 
Grace ;  and  shall  I  not  live  longer  in  such 
images  than  in  cold  fragile  marble?  " 

A  free  soul  only  grows  not  old, 

For  he  lives  in  worlds  unseen, 
Where  stealthy  time  can  take  no  hold 

Nor  dim  fair  Beauty's  sheen. 

It   is    not    effort,   but    fruitless    effort,    which 
makes  work  distasteful ;   and  if  the  teacher  but 


76  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

show  his  pupils  how  to  use  their  powers  rightly, 
they  will  apply  themselves  to  their  tasks  as 
gladly  as  bees  to  their  honey-making.  Happy 
children  make  happy  men  and  women.  Oh ! 
sadden  not  the  souls  that  have  just  budded 
from  out  the  bosom  of  God.  It  is  easy,  how- 
ever, to  carry  too  far  the  notion  that  everything 
should  be  made  pleasant  for  the  young.  Edu-: 
cation  is  for  life ;  and  in  life  much  that  a  man 
has  to  do  cannot  be  made  pleasant,  but  must 
be  done  from  a  sense  of  duty.  Indeed,  a  great 
part  of  the  teacher's  business  is  to  accustom 
pupils  to  do  what  they  do  not  like  to  do.  The 
larger  a  people's  political,  social,  and  religious 
liberty,  the  more  perfect  should  be  the  disci- 
pline of  its  schools.  The  child  who  breaks  a 
rule  through  heedlessness  should  be  punished ; 
for  it  is  the  business  of  education  to  teach  him 
the  necessity  of  giving  heed.  Inattention  is 
a  radical  fault  in  school  as  in  life.  Will  creates 
will,  and  many  words  enfeeble  it.  Live  the 
life,  but  utter  thy  thoughts  about  it  briefly, 
feeling  that  they  need  little  expression  other 
than  thy  behavior.  To  be  able  to  guide  the 
pupil's  will,  the  teacher  must  gain  possession 
of  his  heart.  But  the  young  give  themselves 
to  those  alone  whose  genuine  good-will  towards 
them  they  are  certain  of.  As  water  is  infinitely 
more  valuable  to  man  than  gold,  since  the  one 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  77 

is  essential  to  his  life,  while  the  other  is  but  a 
standard  of  value  or  an  ornament,  so  is  love 
worth  infinitely  more  to  him  than  knowledge; 
since  love  is  his  life,  while  knowledge  is  chiefly 
a  means  whereby  it  may  be  preserved  and  en- 
riched. Hence  the  educator  who  rouses  his 
pupils  to  the  love  of  what  is  true,  good,  and 
fair,  renders  higher  service  than  the  teacher 
who  sharpens  the  intellect  or  imparts  informa- 
tion. We  easily  content  ourselves  with  little 
where  no  one  has  much.  It  is  the  contrast 
that  disturbs  us.  In  the  presence  of  the  rich 
we  feel  our  poverty;  where  all  are  ignorant, 
none  are  conscious  of  their  lack  of  knowledge. 
Education,  like  religion,  art,  and  science,  is 
appreciated  by  those  alone  who  are  convinced 
of  its  surpassing  worth,  and  who  seriously  strive 
to  bring  their  lives  into  harmony  with  its  prin- 
ciples. He  who  believes,  with  all  his  heart, 
in  truth  as  the  supreme  good,  and  who  follows 
after  it  day  by  day,  will  find  peace  and  increase 
of  life.  There  is  no  need  to  ask  that  it  be  use- 
ful, or  bring  anything  else  than  the  possession 
of  itself.  They  alone  are  nobly  contented 
whose  hours  are  so  filled  with  the  work  which 
they  love,  that,  in  doing  it,  they  forget  to  think 
of  themselves. 

A  brave,  manly    character,   enrooted    in    ra- 
tional ideas  and  convictions,   is  the   fine   out- 


78  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

come  of  a  liberal  education.  Let  us  teach  the 
young  the  great  harmonic  truths  and  beliefs  by 
which  we  ourselves  have  been  made  human, 
and  pass  lightly  over  errors,  disputes,  divisions, 
and  hatreds.  Let  it  be  our  aim  to  make  them 
men  of  good-will,  not  partisans.  Strive  not  to 
determine  them  to  this  or  that  vocation,  but  so 
educate  them  that  they  shall  be  able  to  make 
intelligent  choice  of  their  life-work.  Tame  first 
the  beast  in  man,  that  reason  and  conscience 
may  emerge.  Then  cultivate  reason  and  con- 
science, that  intellectual  and  moral  strength 
may  be  developed.  He  who  having  accom- 
plished worthy  things  still  ponders  how  he  may 
upbuild  his  being  and  achieve  something  yet 
nobler,  heedless  of  the  world's  censure  or  ap- 
plause, is  a  great  man.  Virtue  is  a  quality  of 
strength;  and  the  wise  are  distrustful  of  the 
seeming  virtues  of  the  weak.  If  the  end  of 
education  be  virtue,  whatever  enfeebles  is  con- 
trary to  its  purpose.  The  young  are  not  made 
brave  and  hardy  by  being  told  that  they  ought 
to  be  so,  but  by  being  thrown  into  surroundings 
which  try  and  thereby  develop  their  courage 
and  endurance.  To  talk  about  what  one  does 
not  care  for  can  do  little  good.  Only  they 
teach  well  who  are  thoroughly  in  earnest,  and 
thoroughly  interested  in  their  work.  From  the 
best,  everything  good  may  be  obtained  by  con- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  79 

fidence  and  frankness.  Think  not  of  what  harm 
thou  mightst  do  to  another,  but  only  of  what 
good.  To  feel  that  whatever  wise  and  helpful 
thing  thou  canst  do,  thou  shouldst  do ;  and  to 
accept  the  task  thus  set  thee  by  God,  with  a 
cheerful  and  willing  heart,  as  the  brave  gladly 
hold  the  post  of  danger, — this  is  happiness; 
yea,  this  is  blessedness.  They  who  are  drawn 
to  study,  not  by  motives  of  utility,  but  by  dis- 
interested sympathy,  derive  the  purest  benefits. 
Studies,  pursued  with  a  view  to  the  material 
gain  to  be  gotten  from  them,  in  the  practice 
of  a  profession,  for  instance,  are  called  by  the 
Germans  "  bread  studies."  They  do  little  to 
open  and  illumine  the  mind;  and  where  the 
learned  are  almost  exclusively  bread-study  men, 
an  enlightened  public,  one  that  loves  thought 
for  its  own  sake,  is  necessarily  lacking. 

In  the  presence  of  human  indolence  and  in- 
difference, God  himself  seems  to  be  helpless. 
Whether  we  speak  or  whether  we  write,  let  the 
one  aim  be  to  stir  our  own  minds  and  those  of 
our  hearers  and  readers  toward  the  best  things. 
Let  the  teacher  be  joyful,  serious,  and  inexo- 
rable. It  is  impossible  to  know  and  love  chil- 
dren without  feeling  that  right  education  would 
enable  us,  in  a  single  generation,  to  bring  into 
existence  a  higher  kind  of  man  than  has 
hitherto  lived.  We  spoil  them  not  only  by 


8O  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

our  false  spirit  and  mechanical  methods,  but 
by  wrong  treatment  of  many  kinds ;  so  that 
in  the  end  they  are  made  as  dull,  selfish,  and 
insincere  as  we  are.  Thy  law  must  be  good 
through  good;  not  good  through  evil.  But 
if  evil  befall,  convert  it  to  good,  by  wringing 
from  it  deeper  wisdom  and  higher  courage. 
Let  truth  and  justice  be  thy  weapons.  Yield 
not  to  the  brute  passion  which  would  render 
evil  for  evil;  but  know  that  reason  and  con- 
science are  stronger  than  material  forces,  the 
quality  of  their  strength  being  supreme  and 
permanent.  It  is  that  within  the  soul  which 
is  likest  unto  God.  Culture  is  not  merely  a 
development  of  endowments;  it  is  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  soul  from  the  sleep  of  the  senses  to  a 
consciousness  of  God's  presence.  Of  how  little 
of  the  infinite  reality  the  most  knowing  mind  is 
conscious !  There  is  room  for  thee  to  grow  in 
knowledge  and  love  throughout  eternity.  Let 
the  good  stand  in  the  front  ranks.  If  they  flee 
from  the  battle-field,  the  wicked  will  triumph. 
The  world  is  ruled  by  minorities  who  have  defi- 
nite aims  and  conscious  purposes. 

It  is  only  by  rising  out  of  time  that  we  can 
bring  back  the  past,  live  in  it,  feel  its  power, 
and  learn  the  lessons  it  has  to  teach.  The 
history  of  institutions  has  both  a  real  and  a 
sentimental  value;  but  the  important  considera- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  8 1 

tion  always  is  what  they  now  are,  and  what 
they  now  and  here  are  able  to  do  for  the 
spiritual  life  of  men.  Few  really  believe.  The 
most  only  believe  that  they  believe  or  even 
make  believe.  In  this  absence  of  faith,  ideals 
lose  meaning;  and  thought  and  action  come  to 
seem  illusory.  They  who  do  well  habitually 
have  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  talk  about 
themselves  or  their  work.  Thou  hast  accom- 
plished little ;  but  thou  shalt  never  accomplish 
anything  by  thinking  how  little  thou  hast  done. 
To  educate  a  human  being  is  to  nourish  and 
guide  with  knowledge  and  skill  the  powers  of 
his  life,  that,  as  his  faculties  become  perfected, 
he  may  employ  them  for  worthy  ends ;  it  is  to 
form  in  him,  while  he  is  yet  young,  the  disposi- 
tion which  will  be  useful  and  necessary  to  him 
when  he  is  grown,  that  he  may  become  accus- 
tomed, while  his  reason  is  yet  undeveloped,  to 
love  and  hate  what  he  ought  to  love  and  hate. 
The  will  to  live  is  the  radical  impulse  ;  and  the 
aim  of  education  is  to  confirm,  enlighten,  and 
purify  the  will  to  live, — the  will  to  live  in 
God  and  in  humanity.  One's  talent  and  tem- 
perament indicate  what  he  may  become ;  his  way 
of  thinking  shows  what  he  wishes  to  make 
of  himself.  A  vulgar  expression  is  doubly 
offensive  when  uttered  by  lips  which  seem  made 
to  speak  only  what  is  filled  with  the  light  of 
6 


82  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

truth  and  love.  What  the  individual,  left  to 
himself,  could  not  accomplish,  though  he  lived 
for  centuries,  education  does  for  him  in  a  few 
years.  German  philological  scholarship  has 
ruined  German  literature,  —  has  cast  a  blight 
on  all  literature.  It  has  led  the  modern  mind 
to  analyze  and  dissect  literature,  until  sense  for 
that  which  makes  literature  a  vital  force  has 
been  enfeebled  or  lost. 

When  we  have  listened  in  pedagogical  insti- 
tutes and  educational  conventions  to  the  stream 
of  talk  about  methods  in  the  study  of  literature, 
we  remember  with  thankfulness,  that,  when  we 
were  young,  one  could  take  his  Shakspere  with 
him  into  the  woods,  and  hear  him  sing  as  he 
heard  the  birds  sing,  in  blissful  ignorance  of  all 
this  learning  and  methodology.  The  great  pur- 
pose of  poetry  is  to  inspire,  of  history  to  create, 
enthusiasm,  and  what  we  ask  of  the  teacher, 
above  all  things,  is  that  he  inspire  and  create 
enthusiasm.  But  whether  he  shall  do  this 
depends  not  on  the  words  he  speaks  but  on  the 
life  he  lives.  When  some  one  asked  Zeuxi- 
damus  why  the  Lacedaemonians  did  not  reduce 
their  rules  for  education  to  writing  that  the  young 
might  read  them,  he  replied :  "  Because  they 
wished  to  accustom  their  youths  to  deeds,  not 
to  words.'1  Pythagoras  bade  his  disciples  be 
silent,  or  speak  what  is  better  than  silence. 


TJ3STIV] 
THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  83 

A  microbe,  floating  invisible  in  the  dust  of  a 
room,  may  destroy  the  life  of  a  man ;  a  fault,  so 
slight  as  scarcely  to  be  noticeable,  may  grow 
until  it  ruins  all.  A  wise  word  may  give  the  im- 
pulse which  starts  a  youth  on  a  career  of  honor 
and  beneficence.  Linne,  the  first  of  bota- 
nists, was  considered  so  dull  that  his  father  took 
him  from  school  and  apprenticed  him  to  a 
shoemaker.  A  physician  noticing  with  what 
patience  he  gathered  plants  in  the  fields  and 
woods,  declared  there  was  in  him  the  making 
of  a  naturalist;  and  he  was  consequently 
permitted  to  follow  the  bent  of  his  genius.  It 
is  a  chance  if  one  who  is  not  intellectually  and 
morally  active  is  not  reduced  to  drudgery  and 
wretchedness.  If  thou  wouldst  be  safe,  be  a 
man, — wise,  strong,  and  helpful.  The  choice 
of  a  vocation  is  of  minor  importance  to  him, 
who,  understanding  that  life  is  given  him  that 
he  may  upbuild  his  being  on  the  foundation  of 
truth  and  love,  is  resolved  to  devote  all  his 
energies  to  the  divinely  imposed  task.  Have 
patience  with  every  one,  and  with  thyself  first 
of  all.  We  can  help  men'  only  by  making 
them  better;  and  we  can  improve  society  only 
by  improving  men.  Each  one  is  himself  his 
own  good  or  bad  fortune. 

"  Duty  !     wonderful    thought !  "    says    Kant, 
"  thou  workest   not  by  persuasion  or  flattery, 


84  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

nor  yet  by  threats ;  but  thou  boldest  thy  naked 
law  before  the  soul,  and  compellest  respect, 
though  not  always  obedience ;  so  that  all  lusts, 
however  much  in  secret  they  may  rebel,  grow 
dumb  in  thy  presence." 

The  consciousness  of  duty  done 
Is  sweet  as  love  when  first  Jt  is  won. 

There  is  no  endowment  which  is  not  edu- 
cable.  Such  power  lies  latent  in  every  soul, 
that  it  is  possible  to  bring  health  out  of  disease, 
strength  out  of  weakness,  knowledge  out  of 
ignorance,  wisdom  out  of  folly,  and  beauty 
out  of  ugliness.  From  the  feeble  elements  of 
infant  life,  we  can  form  sages,  saints,  and  heroes. 
Order,  punctuality,  truthfulness,  modesty,  po- 
liteness, honesty,  self-control,  frugality,  honor, 
and  industry  are  the  result  of  habits  more  than 
of  endowment ;  and  when  right  life  prevails  in 
the  home  and  the  school,  children  readily  ac- 
quire the  qualities  which  go  to  the  making  of 
character.  What  is  virtue  but  a  habit  of  right 
thinking  and  right  doing  ?  He  who  knows  how 
to  teach  will  find  learners ;  he  who  knows  how 
to  learn  will  find  teachers.  "  Girls,"  says  Rich- 
ter,  "  should  be  educated  like  the  priestesses  of 
antiquity,  only  in  holy  places ;  and  they  should 
not  be  permitted  to  hear,  much  less  to  see, 
aught  that  is  rude,  immoral,  or  violent."  When 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  85 

we  tell  the  young  that  education  will  bring  them 
riches  and  honors,  our  words  differ  little  from 
those  of  Satan,  offering  the  Saviour  cities  and 
kingdoms,  if  he  would  adore  him.  Though 
thou  feel  that  praise  is  sweet,  and  censure  hard 
to  bear,  yet  if  praise  or  blame  influence  thy 
work,  it  is  not  great.  Each  soul  is  an  original. 
Precisely  such  an  one  as  thou  or  I  has  not  lived 
from  the  beginning  of  time,  nor  shall,  to  its  end. 
Let  each  one  do  his  work,  for  to  no  other  has 
God  given  it  to  do.  "  The  quarters  of  an  hour," 
said  Napoleon,  "  decide  the  issue  of  battle." 
The  quarters  of  an  hour  make  the  difference 
in  the  lives  of  men.  It  is  a  small  matter  if  the 
Pope  or  the  President  be  thy  friend ;  but  it  is 
all  important  that  thou  be  the  friend  of  truth 
and  justice. 

Why  read  a  long  story  to  learn  a  truth  which 
an  aphorism  will  teach  thee?  A  proverb  is  a 
true  word.  This  is  so ;  though,  like  all  prov- 
erbs, it  must  be  taken  largely  and  not  in  a 
captious  spirit.  The  proverb  teaches  wisdom, 
not  criticism.  It  becomes  old ;  but  he  who 
sees  himself  reflected  therein  renews  his  youth. 
Let  him  who  would  know  a  people  study  their 
proverbs.  In  them  he  finds  their  customs, 
habits,  and  occupations ;  their  ways  of  feeling 
and  seeing;  their  principles,  experiences,  and 
judgments;  their  aims  and  ends;  their  views  of 


86  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

life  and   of  the  relative  values   of  things.     In 
them  the  common  sense  utters  itself  in  simple 
words,  without  afterthought  or  disguise.     They 
are   a  treasure-house    of    impersonal    wisdom, 
which  has  grown  with  the  life  and  language  of 
the  people,  and  is  as  permanent  as  they.     They 
may  be  accredited  to  Solomon,  or  Homer,  or 
Shakspere,  or  Goethe,  but  they  belong  to  the 
race  from  which  the  man  of  genius  has  sprung. 
If  we  can  but  persuade  the  young  that  educa- 
tion can  be   got,  and  that  it  is  valuable,  —  of 
quite    inestimable   value,  —  half    our   work    is 
done.     Is  it  the  fault  of  human  nature,  or  is  it 
that  of  teachers,  that  we  have   all    crept  like 
snails   to  school,  and    come  away  with  nimble 
feet  and  glad  hearts?     Implant  in  the  mind  of 
the   child  the  love  of  truth,   the   love  of  work 
and    obedience.      Herbert    Spencer    says    that 
they  who  hope  to  engender  better  feelings  by 
schooling   the   mental   faculties    are   irrational. 
It  would  be  as  wise  to  attempt  to  teach  geom- 
etry  by  giving  lessons  in  Latin.     But  this  is 
not  a  true  view;   for  it  is  plain  that  thought 
influences   feeling    as    feeling    influences    will. 
Self-respect  is  the  basis  of  every  virtue;   and 
the  best  work  the  teacher  can  do  is  to  nourish 
and    strengthen    self-respect.      He   who    steals 
one's  good  name  is  but  a  petty  thief;  he  who 
destroys   self-respect    is   a   murderer.     If  thou 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  S/ 

hast  self-reverence,  thou  wilt  put  far  away  un- 
cleanness  of  soul  and  body,  insincerity,  lying, 
and  dishonesty.  The  test  of  a  school  is  what 
it  does  for  its  inferior  students,  —  the  dull,  the 
listless,  and  the  unresponsive ;  for  students  of 
exceptional  powers  will  educate  themselves, 
unless  they  are  put  in  the  hands  of  mind- 
smotherers  and  heart-deadeners.  The  business 
of  the  teacher  and  that  of  the  lecturer  are 
diverse.  The  one  seeks  to  get  at  and  draw 
forth  mind;  the  other,  to  elucidate  and  com- 
mend his  subject.  "  Hence,  "  as  Thring  says, 
"  a  large  audience  stimulates  the  lecturer,  but 
a  large  class  overwhelms  the  teacher  with  des- 
pair; for  he  should  treat  each  pupil  as  an 
individual  and  not  as  a  member  of  a  class."  To 
listen,  and  to  listen  without  impatience,  to  hear 
again  and  again  the  same  objections,  doubts, 
and  grievances,  confirms  one's  authority. 

Nothing  but  faith  in  the  power  of  sympathy 
and  love  can  make  the  teacher  an  educator. 
The  more  easy  his  progress  is  made,  the  more 
readily  will  the  child  be  brought  to  understand 
the  use  and  necessity  of  labor.  The  more 
pleasant  his  work  becomes,  the  more  and 
higher  work  will  he  do.  Let  the  educator  de- 
vote himself  wholly  to  forming  wise  and  good 
men ;  for  wise  and  good  men  are  also  true 
lovers  of  God  and  their  country. 


88  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

"  One  true  thought,"  says  Laurie,  "  take 
it  whence  you  will,  once  fairly  rooted  in  the 
mind  of  a  boy,  will  do  more  for  him,  whether 
he  is  to  be  a  shoemaker  or  a  statesman,  than 
grammar  or  calculus  or  the  syllogism  will  do." 
There  is  an  essential  distinction  between  the 
elementary  and  the  higher  schools.  In  the 
elementary  the  pupils  are  trained  to  habits  of 
work;  in  the  higher,  they  are  educated  to  self- 
activity,  made  capable  of  helping  themselves, 
and  of  fulfilling  whatever  task  may  be  assigned 
to  them.  It  requires  a  certain  maturity  of  mind 
to  enable  us  to  perceive  that  we  do  not  neces- 
sarily know  that  of  which  we  make  constant 
use.  Hence  the  grammar  of  the  mother-tongue 
is  apt  to  be  an  unprofitable  study  for  children. 
It  seems  probable,  indeed,  that  no  one  ever 
acquires  a  mastery  of  his  own  language  except 
through  the  study  of  one  that  is  foreign ;  and 
for  this  purpose  none  have  such  value  as  the 
Greek  and  the  Latin.  The  educational  worth  of 
the  Latin,  for  us  at  least,  is  greater  than  that  of 
the  Greek ;  for  not  only  is  our  English  speech 
largely  of  Latin  origin,  but  our  civilization,  our 
religion,  our  laws  and  government,  are,  to  a 
great  extent,  derived  from  Rome.  The  Gpeek, 
however,  both  as  a  language  and  a  literature, 
is  superior  to  the  Latin.  The  breath  which 
blows  through  the  Greek  classics  exhilarates 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  89 

like  mountain  air;  it  brings  fresh  thoughts  and 
glad  anticipations ;  it  is  alive  with  the  spirit  of 
freedom  and  the  glow  of  beauty.  There  the 
winged  words,  which  fan  the  imaginations  of 
millions,  spring  from  the  mind  of  genius  as 
naturally  as  buds  open  in  the  air  of  spring. 
When  I  recall  my  early  years  in  college,  I  find 
that  the  books  of  those  in  the  higher  classes 
made  a  mysterious  impression  on  me,  as 
though  I  felt  that  in  them  lay  the  secret  and 
promise  of  richer  life.  I  did  not  envy  the 
athletes,  but  the  youths  of  intellect  and  in- 
dustry seemed  to  me  to  have  set  sail  for  the 
isles  of  the  Blest.  And  now,  as  it  all  comes 
back  to  me,  I  know  by  reason  as  then  I  knew 
by  instinct,  how  infinitely  mind  excels  muscle. 

•          He  knows  not  what  he  yet  may  do, 

Who  works  and  to  high  aims  keeps  true. 

A  fresh  and  active  spirit  in  the  teacher  and  in 
the  pupil  is  an  indispensable  requisite  for  the 
best  school-work.  But  nothing  is  so  rare ;  for 
the  teacher  is  made  heavy  by  the  monotony  and 
drudgery  of  his  task,  and  the  dull  teacher 
makes  the  pupil  dull.  Is  there  no  remedy? 
None,  except  the  employment  of  thoroughly 
educated  minds,  who  with  profound  faith  in 
education,  derived  from  experience  of  its  effi- 
cacy in  themselves,  have  in  their  own  thoughts 


go  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

an  inexhaustible  source  of  sympathy  and  en- 
thusiasm. The  ideal  position  for  the  teacher 
is  that  of  the  master,  who,  like  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  —  like  the  Saviour  himself,  —  is  sur- 
rounded and  followed  by  his  disciples.  But  to 
hold  this  position,  one  must  have  a  great  mind 
or  a  great  character.  The  more  we  trust  to 
plans,  systems,  methods,  apparatuses,  and  sub- 
ject-matters of  education,  the  more  feeble  and 
faulty  will  be  the  education  which  we  give. 

"  As  day  by  day  I  older  grow 
A  deeper  longing  springs  to  know, 
Yet  would  I  learn  but  from  the  brave." 

"  For  this,  I  think,"  says  Plato,  "  will  be  con- 
ceded to  me,  that  only  the  br5ve  or  virtuous 
man  can  be  a  teacher." 


CHAPTER  III. 

THOUGHTS   AND   THEORIES. 

To  noble  minds  fair  words  of  truth 
Are  ever  welcome  and  most  sooth. 

THE  man  of  genius  is  not  so  much  one  who 
brings  forth  from  his  inner  life  new  and 
profound  thoughts,  as  one  who,  with  immense 
power  of  receptivity,  lays  hold  on  the  myriad 
impressions  and  utterances,  which  all  may  re- 
ceive and  hear,  melts  them  in  the  divine  fire, 
and  moulds  them  into  forms  of  truth  and  beauty. 
He  is  a  painter,  a  sculptor,  an  architect,  who 
works  with  the  materials  which  all  may  have, 
but  which  he  alone  can  transform  into  symbols 
of  the  infinite  and  all-perfect.  The  tales  from 
which  Shakspere  drew  Hamlet,  Othello,  Mac- 
beth, and  King  Lear  were  crude  stories.  The 
orator  produces  his  highest  effect,  when  inspired 
by  a  casual  remark,  or  an  incident  which  another 
would  not  have  stopped  to  consider.  The 
soughing  of  the  winds,  the  sobbing  of  the  sea, 
the  mutterings  of  the  coming  storm,  the  crack- 
ling of  the  fire,  which  all  may  hear,  suggest 
celestial  harmonies  to  him  only  who  is  born 


92  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

with  a  soul  musically  creative.  When  we  per- 
ceive what  appears  to  us  to  be  good  or  beauti- 
ful, we  unite  it,  by  an  act  of  the  will,  with  our- 
selves; thus  forming  a  whole,  of  which  we  and 
the  object  of  our  love  are  the  parts.  The  higher 
the  being  to  which  we  join  our  own,  and  the 
more  complete  the  union,  the  greater  our 
strength  and  joy.  Will  rather  than  intellect  is 
the  ultimate  principle  of  human  life,  and  the 
highest  function  of  will  is  love.  "  The  sover- 
eign good  for  each  one,"  says  Descartes,  "  con- 
sists in  the  firm  will  to  do  right,  and  in  the 
consent  which  such  will  produces ;  for  there  is 
no  other  good  which  seems  to  be  so  great  or  so 
entirely  in  the  power  of  every  one."  Strive  to 
help  others,  for  to  be  of  service  to  none  is  to 
be  nobody.  The  vanity  of  things  is  the  cor- 
relative of  man's  feebleness  of  thought.  All 
seems  unsubstantial  because  we  can  know  only 
modes  of  being,  but  can  never  comprehend 
being  itself.  Forced  to  live  in  a  world  of  images 
and  sensations,  we  weary  of  the  idle  spectacle 
and  of  the  futile  attempts  to  still  appetites  with 
shadows. 

The  sciences  are  nothing  else  than  the  mind 
of  man  insinuating  itself  into  the  intricacies  of 
nature,  and  reducing  all  things  to  its  own  sim- 
plicity. The  only  kind  of  existence  which  it  is 
possible  for  us  to  conceive,  is  existence  in  and 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  93 

for  conscious  beings.  Materialism,  therefore, 
has  no  meaning.  The  incomprehensibility  of 
the  divine  nature  is  a  principle  of  religion  as  of 
philosophy;  and  to  this  extent  all  reasonable 
men  are  agnostics.  Ideas  belong  to  a  higher 
world  than  facts ;  they  are  facts  interfused  with 
thought,  transformed  by  spirit,  and  floating  in 
the  abysmal  being  of  God.  He  who  has  made 
himself  at  home  in  the  world  of  ideas  cannot 
envy  mere  doers,  whether  they  be  men  of  blood 
or  men  of  gold.  The  passions  of  the  mind  have 
more  vitality  than  those  of  the  heart;  they 
remain  longer  alive  and  active.  If  we  could 
reason  on  all  subjects  with  the  care  and  impar- 
tiality with  which  a  mathematician  works  out  a 
problem,  there  would  be  hope  that  we  might 
free  ourselves  from  error.  But  even  in  adding 
up  our  bank  accounts,  we  find  it  difficult  not 
to  make  our  credits  too  large,  our  debits  too 
small. 

To  increase  the  power  of  the  mind  of  man  is 
a  thing  altogether  higher  than  to  add  to  the 
sum  of  his  knowledge.  The  one  belongs  to 
God  or  to  genius ;  the  other,  any  plodder  may 
hope  to  do.  Plato  and  Aristotle  were  caught 
up  centuries  ago  into  the  Invisible ;  but  the 
ideas  by  which  they  lived  are  as  present  to  us 
as  the  oceans  and  the  stars.  Tell  me  not  of  the 
labor  thy  work  has  cost  thee.  If  it  is  well  done 


94  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

it  will  appear  to  have  been  done  with  ease  ;  and, 
in  praising  thy  industry,  thou  takest  from  the 
pleasure  thy  performance  should  give.  In  the 
midst  of  general  mediocrity,  a  genuine  talent 
escapes  notice,  or  attracts  the  attention  of  but  a 
few;  and  even  they  will  hardly  appreciate  its 
full  significance.  Philosophy,  poetry,  and  re- 
ligion remain  true  and  sacred  for  all  noble  souls, 
in  spite  of  the  senseless  reign  of  matter.  For 
them  facts  cannot  annul  ideas.  "  For  the 
creators  of  thought,"  says  De  Vigny,  "  the  appli- 
cation of  ideas  to  things  is  but  a  loss  of  time.'* 
The  multitude  take  things  as  they  find  them, 
being  unable  or  unwilling  to  sift  the  materials, 
which  are  the  occasions  of  their  joys  and  sor- 
rows, through  the  fine  sieve  of  thought.  Hence 
the  speculations  of  philosophic  minds  have  no 
interest  for  them.  To  attempt  to  explain  the 
problem  of  the  asymptote  to  one  who  is  igno- 
rant of  mathematics,  would  be  absurd ;  but  not 
less  so  than  to  expect  the  multitude  to  under- 
stand the  highest  intellectual,  moral,  and  aesthetic 
truth.  New  discoveries  and  scientific  theories 
startle  the  world  for  a  time,  and  lead  to  much 
discussion ;  and  then,  having  become  assimilated 
to  the  mass  of  our  mental  possessions,  life  flows 
on  much  the  same  as  it  had  always  run.  The 
Copernican  Astronomy,  Geology,  and  Evolu- 
tion, which  have  accustomed  us  to  the  infinite  in 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  95 

space  and  time,  have  ceased  to  impress ;  and 
they  leave  us  still  fixed  to  a  little  spot  of  earth, 
where  we  live  but  a  day,  and  die  as  our  fathers 
died, — believing  in  God,  and  trusting  to  Him 
to  save  us  from  perishing  utterly. 

It  depends  on  ourselves  whether  we  believe 
that  all  is  a  lie,  or  that  truth  is  the  infinite 
reality,  the  ultimate  nature  and  essence  of  what- 
ever is.  He  who  feels  that  his  own  life  is  not 
utterly  empty  and  meaningless,  will  not  accept 
a  philosophy  of  despair.  To  become  mechani- 
cal is  to  fall  from  the  power  of  life,  back  to  the 
fatal  sway  of  matter.  Keep,  therefore,  thy 
spirit  free  and  fluid.  Practical  natures  are 
quick  to  mock  at  those  they  call  dreamers, 
because  they  are  unable  to  realize  to  'what  an 
extent  the  world  of  all  of  us  is  a  thing  of  the 
mind,  a  flower  of  the  fancy.  Children  live  in 
dreamland,  the  young  in  the  imagination ;  and 
in  maturity  and  old  age  we  dwell  in  conven- 
tional habitations  which  the  social  environment 
and  our  own  efforts  have  constructed.  Are 
not  time  and  space  the  web  and  woof  of  our 
lives ;  and  what  are  they  but  the  setting  of  the 
mind?  the  ideal  is  our  most  real  and  true  home. 
When  we  look  habitually  into  the  heart  of 
things,  the  struggles  and  contentions  of  which 
we  are  witnesses  seem  idle  as  the  disputes  of 
children,  that  are  forgotten  as  soon  as  the  noise 


96  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

dies  away.  The  solitudes  into  which  thought 
drives  its  votaries,  seem,  at  times,  to  be  deserts 
where  the  soul  grows  afraid  of  its  proper  world, 
and  longs  for  the  power  to  relish  the  things 
which  make  the  unthinking  laugh  and  cry.  We 
are  all  bedded  on  the  lap  of  our  great  mother- 
earth;  and  it  is  there  only  that  we  rest  and 
sleep  as  children  rest  and  sleep.  The  facile 
pleasures  are  so  much  more  natural  to  man 
than  those  which  are  born  of  the  exercise  of 
his  noblest  endowments,  that  even  a  genius  is 
rarely  able  to  resist  the  attraction  of  his  ani- 
mal instincts;  for  genius,  like  all  that  is  high 
within  us,  is  enrooted  in  the  sensuous  nature, 
and  can  flourish  only  in  this  soil,  which  neverthe- 
less is  rank,  and  when  left  to  itself  produces 
but  what  is  coarse,  from  even  the  finest  seed. 
To  be  interesting  to  the  crowd,  one  must  have 
a  touch  of  vulgarity.  A  philosopher  is  made 
known,  not  by  the  profound  truth  he  reveals, 
but  by  the  bearing  which  his  teaching  is  sup- 
posed to  have  on  politics  and  popular  religion, 
on  social  and  commercial  life.  Intellectual  con- 
querors are  not  accompanied  by  armies  in  glit- 
tering array,  by  the  blare  of  trumpets  and  the 
shoutings  of  mobs;  but  their  triumphal  march 
proceeds  and  is  acclaimed  by  the  best,  from 
people  to  people,  and  from  age  to  age,  while 
the  war  captains  and  politicians,  with  their  cam- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  97 

paigns  and  noise  of  battle,  die  away  in  an  echo. 
If  thou  take  more  pleasure  in  seeing  thy  preju- 
dices overcome  by  truth  than  in  finding  argu- 
ments to  confirm  thee  in  them,  thy  studies 
shall  cheer  and  lead  thee  to  fairer  worlds. 
Cremonini,  hearing  that  Galileo  had  discovered 
the  moons  of  Jupiter,  refused  to  turn  his  tele- 
scope to  the  planet,  lest  he  should  find  that 
Aristotle  had  been  wrong.  The  world  is  full 
of  Cremoninis.  The  most  godlike  soul  who. 
ever  breathed  earthly  air  was  not  surrounded 
by  diviner  things  than  you  or  I.  It  was  him- 
self that  made  him  great,  and  not  the  world 
about  him. 

"  The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves,  that  we  are  underlings." 

Only  weak  natures  consent  to  dwell  among 
tombstones  and  the  losses  of  which  they  are 
the  symbol ;  the  strong  drink  wisdom  and 
courage  from  the  cup  of  sorrow,  and  move 
onward  toward  light  and  life.  He  who  can 
coin  his  worst  disappointments  into  apothegms 
passes  through  troubles  and  trials  with  a  light 
heart.  The  wise  are  indulgent,  for  they  know 
that  men  are  weak  rather  than  perverse.  Their 
indignation  at  the  sight  of  evil  is  tempered  by 
the  thought  that  the  wicked  are  self-tormentors. 
They  are  modest  too,  and  are  persuaded  that 
7 


98  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

God  makes  the  world,  not  they.  The  resplen- 
dent dome  of  life,  lifting  itself  into  the  heavens 
and  shooting  its  rays  into  infinities,  rests  on  the 
foundation  of  appetite  and  sexual  desire.  The 
noblest  mind  has  slept  as  a  microscopic  germ 
within  an  intestine.  The  secret  of  what  gives 
the  purest  joy  seems  to  lie  open ;  but  unless  the 
heavenly  powers  assist,  we  shall  never  find  the 
hidden  spring  which  makes  it  ours.  Who  can 
explain  what  it  is  in  a  man's  conversation  or 
style  that  awakens  interest  and  gives  pleasure? 
Why  do  we  love  a  spring  morning  or  a  beauti- 
ful face,  or  the  songs  of  birds,  re-echoing  from 
bough  to  bough?  Shall  we  pluck  a  rose,  and 
tear  it  leaf  from  leaf,  to  discover  why  it  thrills 
us  with  delight?  Wherever  human  life  is 
whole,  men  believe  that  they  are  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature,  and  belong  to  an  order 
of  things  which  is  infinite  and  eternal.  In  this 
faith  they  strive  nobly;  and,  if  failure  or  dis- 
aster overtake  them,  they  still  hold  that  life  is 
good.  Disillusions  bring  into  view  fairer  and 
wider  prospects  for  those  who  have  the  courage 
to  look  steadfastly.  God  made  man  to  his  own 
image,  and  man  is  always  striving  to  make  the 
world  to  his  own  likeness.  You  cannot  con- 
tent him  with  less  than  a  universe,  in  which, 
as  in  a  mirror,  he  may  see  but  the  image  of 
himself.  Genius  is  most  disappointing  when 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  99 

its  inspiration  is  most  pure.  We  feel  that  now 
the  veil  shall  be  lifted,  the  light  that  never  yet 
was  seen  appear;  we  wipe  the  tears  from  our 
eyes,  and  behold  but  the  common  day.  Even 
if  everything  had  been  said,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  repeat  it,  and  in  other  words.  What 
the  best  minds  see  to  be  no  longer  tenable,  will 
little  by  little  lose  its  hold  on  the  multitude 
also.  The  provokers  of  ideas  have  greater  and 
more  enduring  power  than  the  stirrers  of  pas- 
sion. Ideas  are  the  highest  which  life's  current 
bears.  Love  is  more  satisfying,  but  it  needs 
the  support  of  ideas.  Great  thoughts  are  so 
rare  that  one  is  enough  to  make  its  author 
famous.  Be  brave,  cheerful,  and  industrious, 
and  good  things  will  cluster  around  thee  like 
bees  about  flowers.  Happy  are  they  who  be- 
gin life  in  an  atmosphere  which  inspires  con- 
fidence and  serenity.  Whatever  troubles  come 
later,  they  will  hardly  lose  faith  in  themselves 
and  the  goodness  of  living.  What  we  admire 
is  precious  to  us.  Learn  to  admire,  and  thou 
shalt  be  richer  than  kings.  Who  pleases  is 
master;  who  ceases  to  please,  nobody. 

It  is  futile  to  strive  to  isolate  ourselves,  for 
we  are  not  separate  but  only  appear  to  be  so. 
The  roots  which  nourish  our  life  shoot  out  in 
every  direction,  the  tap  root  striking  down  into 
the  Absolute  and  Paternal.  Hence  springs  the 


IOO  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

yearning  for  immortality,  the  longing  to  sur- 
vive as  an  influence,  whether  our  thought  be 
of  a  few  or  of  mankind.  They  who  hate  us  do 
us  less  despite  than  they  who  forget  us.  It  is 
not  the  world  in  which  it  was  possible  for  thee 
to  live,  but  the  world  in  which  thou  hast  actu- 
ally made  thyself  a  home,  which  constitutes  thy 
significance  and  proves  thy  worth.  They  who 
cannot  understand  our  highest  thoughts  or  sym- 
pathize with  our  divinest  moods  are  strangers, 
though  they  be  our  brothers  and  sisters;  for 
we  live  in  that  which  is  best  and  strongest  in 
us,  and  it  is  there  that  we  are  truly  ourselves. 
The  craving  for  eternal  love  is  less  sensibly  felt 
by  a  few,  at  least,  than  the  craving  for  absolute 
truth.  Their  hearts  are  near  breaking,  not  be- 
cause they  fear  they  shall  not  live  and  love  for- 
ever, but  because  they  fear  they  shall  never 
truly  know.  He  who  is  able  for  his  work  does 
it  with  a  brave  and  cheerful  heart.  The  noise 
of  his  tools  sounds  in  his  ears  like  a  song.  Be 
strong  and  wise,  and  thou  shalt  not  lack  for 
followers  and  helpers. 

"  A  man  who  will  make  no  effort  for  him- 
self," says  Demosthenes,  "  need  not  apply  for 
aid  to  his  friends  and  much  less  to  the  gods." 
A  great  thought,  whatever  the  form  in  which  it 
is  uttered,  is  great,  as  a  great  soul,  whatever  its 
body,  is  great;  but  noble  thoughts  will  find  fit- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  IOI 

ting  expression.  "By  a  long  habit  of  writing," 
says  Goldsmith,  "  one  acquires  a  greatness  of 
thinking  and  a  mastery  of  manner  which  mere 
holiday  writers,  with  ten  times  the  genius,  may 
vainly  attempt  to  equal."  There  is  magic  in 
the  pen.  Its  touch  is  magnetic,  and  sets  the 
spirit  at  work.  It  rouses  from  lethargy,  and 
brings  us  back  to  the  world  of  truth  and  beauty. 
It  is  hardly  grasped  when  thought  begins  to 
flow.  Though  our  minds  seem  dry  and  barren 
as  the  rocks,  the  pen  will  cause  living  waters  to 
spring  from  them ;  and  along  the  channels  they 
take,  flowers  will  bloom  and  birds  will  sing. 

The  pen  is  a  divining  rod  which  shows  where 
lie  the  hidden  veins ;  it  is  a  revealer  who  makes 
us  known  to  ourselves ;  it  is  a  wonder-worker 
who,  from  evanescent  moods  and  flashes  of 
light,  weaves  for  truth  an  enduring  vesture, 
wherein  it  may  draw  near  to  the  homes  and 
hearts  of  men,  and  receive  welcome,  like  a 
visitant  from  God.  The  orator  requires  fit 
audience  and  the  urgency  of  a  great  occasion ; 
but  the  writer  is  happiest  when  he  thinks  not 
of  the  reader,  and  he  needs  no  other  occasion 
than  that  which  true  thoughts  bring.  He  utters 
himself  that  he  may  find  and  know  himself,  and 
his  reward  is  sufficient  though  no  eye  but  his 
own  ever  rest  upon  his  page. 

Write  the  best  thou  knowest,  thy  holiest  faith, 


IO2  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

without  a  thought  of  what  impression  it  shall 
make,  but  simply  as  a  testimony  to  thyself  and 
to  truth.  To  Ipse  consciousness  of  one's  self  in 
the  presence  of  what  is  divine  —  to  be  so  carried 
away  by  the  vision  of  truth  that  self  sinks  out 
of  sight — is  to  be  in  the  mood  for  the  exer- 
cise of  creative  intellectual  power.  To  say 
well  that  with  which  all  are  familiar  has  no 
great  merit;  the  test  of  a  writer's  skill  is  his 
ability  to  give  correct  and  adequate  expression 
to  what  is  original  and  profound.  However 
vital  the  truth,  if  there  is  a  flaw  in  the  expres- 
sion, some  one  will  stamp  it  more  authentically 
and  make  it  his  own.  The  foolish  write  of  what 
they  believe  to  be  false ;  the  wise  tell  the  truth 
they  know. 

Even  in  the  best  writers  there  is  much  that 
is  inferior  in  thought  and  style,  as  in  the  fairest 
landscape  there  is  much  that  is  commonplace. 
In  Dante  as  in  Milton,  in  Plato  as  in  Shakspere, 
there  are  wastes  where  we  find  no  refreshment ; 
there  are  heavinesses  which  we  feel  to  be  bur- 
dens; there  are  things  uninteresting  in  them- 
selves about  which  no  breath  of  inspiration  is 
blown ;  but  on  the  heights  to  which  they  bear 
us  again  and  again,  all  this  is  forgotten  or 
pardoned. 

When  there  is  a  vivid  consciousness  of  the 
truth  which  we  wish  to  utter,  the  right  expres- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES,  IO3 

sion  is  not  difficult  to  find.  Truths  which  we 
have  pondered  and  loved  for  a  long  time,  seem 
little  by  little  to  transfuse  themselves  into  the 
substance  of  our  souls,  and  when  we  utter  them 
there  is  a  vital  quality  in  our  words.  It  is  this 
intimate  acquaintance  with  truth  which  gives 
proportion,  adequacy,  and  naturalness  to  style. 
Learn  to  love  ideas  for  themselves ;  and  do  not 
think,  the  instant  a  truth  dawns  on  thee,  of  de- 
vising a  new  scheme  for  reforming  the  world. 
Is  it  not  a  gain  that  fresh  ideas  circulate,  and 
that  the  minds  of  even  a  few  are  stimulated  to 
a  disinterested  self-activity? 

"  To  accustom  mankind,"  says  Joubert,  "  to 
pleasures  which  depend  neither  upon  the  bodily 
appetites  nor  upon  money,  by  giving  them  a 
taste  for  the  things  of  the  mind,  seems  to  me 
the  one  proper  fruit  which  nature  has  meant 
our  literary  productions  should  bear."  They 
who  have  a  sort  of  rule  of  thumb  whereby  they 
determine  the  value  of  the  products  of  the 
mind,  have  no  interest  for  us ;  for  we  feel,  with- 
out entering  further  into  their  views,  that  life 
is  infinitely  deeper,  richer,  and  wider  than  they 
are  able  to  conceive.  They  are  like  one  who, 
standing  beneath  the  starlit  vault,  should  point 
out  and  name  the  constellations,  and  would 
have  us  believe  that  he  has  thereby  opened  to 
our  gaze  the  abysmal  depths  of  the  heavens. 


104  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Names  and  formulas  are  but  the  shell ;  and  the 
soul  craves  for  the  inner  heart  of  truth.  Com- 
mentators and  critics  are  like  cicerones  who 
take  travellers  to  see  the  masterpieces  of  the 
great  artists.  Their  learned  chatter  hinders  the 
impression  which  the  works  themselves  should 
make.  The  author's  intentions  are  of  impor- 
tance to  himself,  but  not  to  the  world  which 
judges  him  by  his  work.  The  masters  of  style 
themselves  are  seldom  fully  aware  of  its  worth 
and  importance.  Half  the  errors  and  con- 
troversies which  fill  the  world  with  confusion 
would  cease  to  exist  if  men  spoke  and  wrote 
with  clearness  and  accuracy.  Truth  rightly 
expressed  is  its  own  evidence;  and  beauty  of 
style  is  the  glow  which  truth  irradiates.  For- 
mal and  mechanical  minds  have  been  the  cause 
of  half  our  woe  and  misery.  Believe,  hope, 
love,  and  work,  welcoming  each  day  as  an 
opportunity  given  thee  by  God  to  grow  like 
unto  Him,  who  is  truth,  power,  goodness,  and 
beauty.  Compare  thyself  often  with  thy  idea 
of  human  perfection,  and  it  will  be  easy  for 
thee  to  keep  thyself  modest  and  humble.  If 
diffidence  come  over  thee,  and  thou  doubt 
whether  thou  shalt  ever  be  able  to  do  a  noble 
deed  or  utter  a  memorable  word,  call  to 
mind  the  example  of  those  -who  have  tri- 
umphed over  greater  obstacles  than  thou  hast 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  105 

to  surmount.  Words  do  not  reveal  the  best, 
which  can  be  made  plain  only  by  action. 
"Single  thoughts/'  says  Diesterweg,  "read  or 
heard  in  the  course  of  conversation,  have  been 
of  more  weight  with  me  than  hourlong  teach- 
ing." If  thou  wouldst  educate  thyself,  follow 
the  advice  of  St.  Paul :  "  Prove  all  things,  hold 
fast  to  that  which  is  good."  We  know  only 
what  forms  an  organic  union  with  our  minds, 
and  thus  becomes  part  of  ourselves.  Be  sus- 
picious of  thy  sincerity  when  thou  art  the 
advocate  of  that  upon  which  thy  livelihood 
depends.  If  thou  hast  done  aught  of  good, 
forget  it.  Thy  business  is  not  with  what  is 
done,  but  with  what  remains  to  do. 

Insist  not  upon  the  truth  thou  knowest. 
Utter  it  as  best  thou  art  able,  and  leave  it  like 
seed-corn  till  the  glow  of  minds  and  hearts 
shall  call  it  forth  into  the  light  of  day.  Never 
believe  that  thou  hast  done  thy  best ;  and  turn, 
therefore,  from  praise  which  is  due  only  to 
those  who  have  done  their  best.  Unless  thy 
view  of  truth  is  profound,  thou  shalt  not  feel 
secure  except  in  shallow  places.  Life  is  so 
complex  and  our  sight  so  feeble,  that  even 
the  wisest  play  but  a  game  of  chance.  Good 
fortune  is  good  sense;  but  no  forethought 
can  save  from  great  calamities.  Put,  then, 
thy  trust  in  the  Eternal,  in  whom  all  things 


106  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

are  reconciled.  Stop  not  to  think  what  thou 
mightest  have  done,  but  keep  thyself  busy 
doing  what  it  is  right  to  do.  Let  each  mo- 
ment, as  it  falls  from  Eternity,  whether  it  find 
thee  sick  or  well,  happy  or  miserable,  bear 
thee  nearer  to  wisdom  and  goodness,  even  as 
it  bears  thee  nearer  to  death.  Let  nothing  go 
to  waste,  nor  time  nor  money,  nor  aught  of 
which  time  and  money  are  the  equivalents. 
The  day  in  which  we  have  learned  nothing  is 
lost.  Think  and  speak  of  what  thou  lovest, 
and  dwell  little  on  what  is  distasteful  to  thee. 
The  habit  of  contemplating  truth,  goodness, 
and  beauty  in  the  spirit  of  a  disinterested  curi- 
osity is  fatal.  They  are  of  the  essence  of  our 
being,  they  are  our  life;  and  we  must  love  them 
or  we  become  the  enemies  of  our  own  souls. 
Passive  acquiescence  in  opinions  and  beliefs  has 
no  efficacy;  it  impels  neither  to  thought  nor 
action,  but  rather  dulls  the  mind  and  weakens 
the  will.  The  value  of  our  faith  is  measured  by 
the  power  with  which  we  react  upon  it.  Intel- 
lectual and  moral  freedom  is  won  by  long  and 
hard  battles  with  the  sensual  nature  which  holds 
young  souls  captive.  In  the  struggle  con- 
science emerges,  and  the  real  man  begins  to 
be.  Strive  in  the  light  of  the  ideal  of  human- 
ity to  make  thyself  a  man,  without  the  shadow 
of  a  doubt  that  thou  canst  thereby  lose  aught 
of  good  or  best  which  life  can  give. 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  IO/ 

Once  we  have  found  the  work  which  we  were 
born  to  do,  the  only  thing  we  seem  to  lack  is 
time.  They  are  wise  who  lead  a  laborious  and 
hidden  life,  nourished  by  the  love  of  one  or 
two,  and  devoted  to  the  search  for  truth  and 
the  practice  of  good.  It  is  to  little  purpose 
that  we  are  good  mechanics  or  good  rulers,  if 
we  ourselves  are  starved  and  warped.  He  who 
has  no  fear  of  death  hardly  thinks  of  it  at  all. 
If  thou  needest  recognition,  content  thyself  with 
life  in  a  narrow  sphere ;  but,  if  thou  wouldst  in- 
fluence many,  be  prepared  to  find  thyself  mis- 
understood and  abused.  Strive  ceaselessly  to 
form  in  thyself  a  brave  and  contented  spirit, 
and  to  give  strength  and  happiness  to  those 
who  come  under  thy  influence.  Work  is  the 
only  distraction  which  can  make  us  forget  the 
miseries  of  life.  Whoever  has  lived  in  the  com- 
pany of  the  truly  great  is  made  interesting. 
Desire  influence  over  others  only  for  their  own 
and  the  general  good.  No  human  being  is  as 
wise  or  good  or  strong  or  fair  or  happy  as  I 
would  have  him  be.  If  it  were  better  with  all 
others,  it  would  be  better  with  me.  Fame  is 
not  happiness ;  but  delight  in  doing  the  things 
which  win  fame  is  happiness.  To  be  strong 
one  should  live  much  alone  and  belong  to  no 
party.  If  the  course  of  things  disturb  thee, 
consider  that  the  end  for  which  the  world  exists 


108  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

could   not  be  thwarted  even  by  a  conspiracy 
of  the  whole  race. 

To  be  religious  we  must  serve  God,  not  with 
one  faculty,  but  with  all,  which  we  must  develop 
and  cultivate  on  every  side.  Whatever  palaces 
we  build,  if  we  ourselves  are  vulgar  and  igno- 
rant, we  live  in  the  midst  of  poverty  and  squalor. 
If  thou  must  now  lack  what  once  gave  thee  joy, 
be  thankful  that  for  a  time  it  was  thine.  Take 
sickness  as  a  task  God  sets  thee,  which  thou 
must  get  through  with  as  best  thou  mayst ;  and 
thou  shalt  find  that  courage  and  good  sense  will 
help  thee  to  recover  from  thy  illness.  Many 
are  sick  because  they  have  not  the  heart  to  be 
well.  In  each  individual  there  lies  hidden  a 
better  man  than  the  one  whom  daily  life  brings 
to  the  surface.  To  discover  and  rouse  this 
higher  self  to  activity  is  the  educator's  aim,  as 
it  is  that  of  the  apostle.  They  who  lead  the 
life  of  thought  and  contemplation,  know  the 
best  which  can  fall  to  the  lot  of  man  on  earth. 
If  thou  wouldst  not  feel  the  pain  of  want,  con- 
tent thyself  with  little;  find  pleasure,  like  Soc- 
rates, in  thinking  how  many  things  the  world 
is  full  of  which  thou  dost  not  need.  We  may 
learn  to  accept  irreparable  losses  with  a  mild 
sadness  which  becomes  a  solace  and  a  blessing. 
In  the  midst  of  a  world  which  is  forever  pass- 
ing away,  cleave  with  all  thy  might  to  the 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  109 

Eternal,  to  whom  thou  art  akin;  for  else  the 
evanescence  of  things  would  not  sadden  thee. 
Fortunate  is  he  who  need  ask  nothing  of  men, 
except  the  pleasure  which  their  happiness 
gives  him.  Boast  not  of  thyself  or  thy  posses- 
sions; for  to  do  so  is  not  only  vulgar,  but  a 
sign  of  the  folly  which  goes  before  a  fall.  If 
thy  descent  is  high,  let  it  be  shown  by  thy 
deeds,  not  by  thy  words.  God  sees  whole 
wrorlds  perish,  and  is  not  disturbed.  Hold  fast 
to  Him,  and  thou  shalt  not  lose  thy  composure. 
The  mass  of  events  pass  before  us  like  a  spec- 
tacle, in  which  it  is  not  possible  to  take  more 
than  a  momentary  interest.  Let  not  this 
theatrical  world  distract  thee  from  thy  proper 
good.  In  a  hundred  years  the  human  race 
renews  itself  three  times :  in  thirty-three  years, 
fifteen  hundred  millions  are  born  and  die;  each 
year,  some  forty  millions.  Three  times  within 
a  century  the  whole  race  comes  upon  the  stage, 
plays  its  part,  amid  laughter  and  tears,  then 
falls  asleep  in  darkness  and  vanishes  utterly. 
Receive  good  and  bad  fortune  with  a  like 
welcome,  since  thou  canst  not  know  which 
may  better  help  thy  progress  in  wisdom  and 
virtue.  The  pleasures  we  refuse  to  take  will 
return  to  us  in  higher  and  more  enduring 
form.  God  gives  us  peace  as  He  gives  us 
wisdom,  only  when  we  ourselves  have  fought 


1 10  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

the  battles  and  won  the  victories  which  make 
them  ours. 

Who  strives  with  earnest  will  has  half  attained, 
For  in  the  striving  richer  life  is  gained. 

Happy  days  vanish  and  leave  scarce  a  trace 
behind ;  but  sad  days  go  away  too,  and  if  we 
have  known  how  to  use  them,  they  leave  us 
stronger  and  wiser.  If  thy  thought  and  love 
make  thy  happiness,  thou  canst  not  lose  it 
while  thou  remainest  thyself.  We  may  not 
rest  in  the  enjoyment  of  what  our  labors  have 
achieved,  but  must  make  it  the  means  to  the  at- 
tainment of  yet  higher  good.  They  who  are 
busy  stilling  their  appetites,  that  is,  deadening 
their  pain,  have  no  time  to  be  happy.  God 
Himself  cannot  make  it  possible  that  men  shall 
find  happiness  except  in  the  fulfilment  of  duty 
and  in  love.  All  things  come  and  go,  rise  into 
view  and  vanish,  and  man  cannot  stay  their 
course.  Accept  the  fact  without  complaint,  and 
float  thy  little  day  upon  the  ceaseless  stream, 
trusting  that,  when  life's  bubble  shall  burst,  God 
will  receive  thee  into  more  enduring  worlds. 
Though  thou  standest  on  the  brink  of  the  grave, 
hope  thou  mayst  yet  do  some  good  deed  before 
death  comes.  To  rest  in  anything  which  makes 
us  happy,  though  it  be  the  love  of  wife  and 
children,  of  home  and  friends,  leads  to  a  soft 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  1 1 1 

and  indolent  temper.  In  the  love  of  God  we 
cannot  rest,  for  the  love  of  God  is  effort  and 
infinite  desire.  It  is  the  love  of  the  best  which 
can  never  be  wholly  ours.  He  who  lives  in  his 
thoughts  and  in  the  emotions  which  they 
awaken,  needs  little  else  for  his  entertainment ; 
and  as  he  needs  little  for  himself  he  is  the  more 
able  to  be  of  help  to  others.  They  alone  know 
the  sweetness  and  worth  of  virtue,  in  whom  the 
combat  has  died  away  into  habits  of  right  doing. 
They  are  like  heroes  whose  victories  have  made 
men  free,  and  who  now  sit  at  home  in  peace, 
surrounded  by  those  they  love.  Thy  influence 
over  the  few  whom  thou  knowest  can  be  but 
slight;  and  over  the  many,  if  it  exist  at  all,  it 
is  necessarily  insignificant.  Trouble  not  thy- 
self, then,  about  what  thou  canst  not  change, 
but  rise  into  the  calm  region  of  truth,  where 
what  is  known  and  loved  is  forever  fair  and 
good  ;  and  in  this  way,  perchance,  better  than 
in  another,  thou  mayst  be  of  help  to  thy  fellows. 
Truth  is  so  divinely  sweet  that  they  who  have 
entered  the  inner  sanctuary  of  knowledge  lead 
a  blessed  life,  though  they  are  outcast  from  the 
world  or  in  prison.  Our  happiness,  indeed,  like 
our  unhappiness,  is  largely  illusion;  there  being 
seldom  any  necessary  connection  between  our 
joys  or  sorrows  and  the  things  to  which  we  at- 
tribute them.  Where  man  feels  impotent  to 


112  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

react  against  nature  or  the  course  of  things,  he 
settles  into  some  kind  of  fatalism.  In  the 
tropics  this  temper  prevails;  and  in  Europe 
and  with  us,  those  who  are  persuaded  that 
there  is  nothing  but  nature,  feel  that  they 
are  borne  helplessly  on  the  boundless  stream 
of  tendency. 

"  The  era  of  universal  mediocrity  is  begin- 
ning," says  Amiel ;  "  everything  is  becoming 
less  gross,  but  more  vulgar.  The  day  of  great 
men  is  passing  away;  society  is  settling  on  a  mo- 
notonous plain  where  there  are  no  undulations. 
The  statistician  will  remark  a  general  progress, 
the  moralist  a  general  decline,  —  progress  of 
things,  decline  of  souls."  Let  not  thoughts 
like  these  disturb  thee  ;  but  know  that  God  is  in 
His  world,  appealing  to  men  as  of  old  to  rise 
heavenward.  Pessimism  is  a  temper,  not  a  phi- 
losophy. As  a  system  of  thought  it  is  not  de- 
serving of  serious  consideration. 

The  universe  is  at  once  the  worst  and  the 
best,  for  there  is  no  other;  and  the  brave  and 
healthy  find  it  a  good  enough  world  for  those 
who  live  for  truth  and  love ;  but  a  cowardly  and 
despairing  spirit  would  make  a  hell  of  heaven. 
We  rebel  against  want,  but  it  is  our  great  teacher. 
The  desert  reveals  the  worth  of  water;  sickness, 
that  of  health;  age,  that  of  youth.  He  who 
has  never  eaten  his  bread  with  tears,  the  poet 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  113 

says,  knows  not  the  heavenly  powers ;  and  they 
who  have  all  they  desire  are  not  or  soon  shall 
cease  to  be  men.  That  all  is  vanity  none  of 
us  genuinely  believe;  and  if  we  so  believed  we 
should  be  neither  Christian  nor  sensible.  God 
is  not  vanity,  nor  is  the  universe  which  is  athrill 
with  God.  A  well  trained  sophist  will  prove 
any  thing  from  anything,  and  convert  whatever 
words  and  events  to  his  whim;  but  the  serious 
shrink  from  his  methods  as  being  nothing  else 
than  a  profanation  of  reason.  Syllogisms  are 
crutches  for  crippled  minds.  Whatever  I  read 
in  praise  of  childhood,  youth,  manhood,  or  old 
age,  I  say  to  myself:  The  period  of  life  which 
is  now  mine  is  the  most  precious,  and,  if  I  but 
make  right  use  of  it,  it  will  give  me  the  best. 

Here  or  nowhere,  now  or  never, 

Let  each  one  strive  with  best  endeavor. 

"  Terse  sentences,"  says  Cicero,  "  have  great 
weight  as  aids  to  a  happy  life." 

Let  us  live  and  let  live  in  the  things  of  the 
mind  as  in  other  things.  We  may  believe  and 
yet  be  unable  to  prove  our  faith ;  may  doubt  the 
validity  of  all  the  arguments  which  have  been 
advanced  in  its  support.  What  is  false  is  not 
less  so  because  a  thousand  years  ago  it  was 
believed  to  be  true ;  nor  is  what  is  true  less  so 
because  then  it  was  believed  to  be  false.  Who- 

8 


114  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

ever  acts,  whoever  utters  honest  thought,  runs 
the  risk  of  doing  harm ;  but  not  to  act  and  not 
to  utter  honest  thought  is  not  to  be  a  man. 
The  measure  of  a  man's  worth  is  the  industry 
and  perseverance  with  which  he  seeks  truth, 
speculative  and  practical.  He  who  sweeps  the 
altar  steps  performs  divine  service,  if  he  work 
in  the  right  spirit.  Health  and  the  will  to  work 
carry  us  far.  Do  thy  best,  and  be  glad  that 
many  do  their  best.  Love  thy  country,  but  so 
as  not  to  hinder  the  larger  love  thou  owest  all 
thy  kind.  Good  deeds  and  high  thoughts  go 
forth  to  make  us  friends  whom  we  shall  never 
know.  Speak  of  thy  joys ;  leave  thy  sorrows, 
like  thy  dead,  in  their  graves.  Soft  words 
soothe  harsh  tempers  as  raindrops  calm  angry 
waves.  Deeds  are  the  substance  of  history; 
but  words,  which  make  literature,  are  also 
deeds. 

While  the  national  life  continues  to  develop, 
the  love  of  science,  literature,  and  art  continues 
to  increase ;  religion  continues  to  be  nourished 
by  self-renewing  faith,  and  all  the  higher  inter- 
ests prosper;  but  when  the  nation's  life  begins 
to  decay,  individuals  sicken  and  lose  heart, 
and  all  that  strengthens  and  gladdens  the  soul 
tends  toward  extinction.  We  may  hold  before 
the  eyes  of  youth,  as  incentives  to  industry, 
prospects  of  honor  and  wealth;  but  the  only 


THOUGHTS  AND   THEORIES.  115 

worthy  result  of  study  is  the  wisdom,  courage, 
and  fidelity  with  which  it  informs  the  mind  and 
conscience.  When  genius  makes  use  of  its 
divine  power  to  render  sin  alluring  and  to  throw 
a  glamour  around  vice,  it  is  as  though  a  hero 
should  become  a  pimp  or  a  beautiful  woman  a 
harlot.  They  who  set  truth  in  a  new  light  ren- 
der service  scarcely  less  important  than  they 
who  discover  new  truth,  which  after  all  can 
hardly  be  more  than  a  new  phase  of  truth.  If 
thy  one  object  is  truth,  what  matter  whether 
thou  find  it  with  thy  friends  or  thy  foes?  If 
thou  hearest  it  from  the  lips  of  a  convict,  it  is 
sacred  as  though  it  had  been  spoken  by  the 
holiest  of  men.  Though  worlds  be  shattered, 
let  truth  be  sought  and  found,  be  loved  and 
proclaimed.  It  is  the  life  of  the  mind,  and  to 
hinder  its  pursuit  is  a  crime  against  humanity. 
Where  thou  art  unable  to  speak  truth  in  its 
purity,  attempt  not  to  express  it  at  all. 

That  truth  is  fair  all  gladly  do  confess, 

But  naked  ?     Shame  !  it  must  have  on  a  dress. 

Sow  the  seed  of  the  harvest  thou  hopest  to 
reap  in  the  soil  of  thine  own  language  and 
country.  If  it  strike  not  root  there,  it  will  not 
anywhere.  Be  true  to  those  who  love  thee  and 
whose  love  thou  hast  accepted,  though  it  cost 
thee  the  good-will  of  all  others,  though  it  cost 


Il6  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

thee  thy  life.  Help  without  sympathy  is 
mockery,  —  it  is  the  pity  which  is  harder  to 
bear  than  pain.  We  need  little ;  but  we  must 
have  liberty  to  strive  for  all,  since  we  are  born 
for  God  and  the  Universe.  The  aureole  which 
encircles  truth  sheds  a  purer  light  than  the 
approving  smile  of  millions.  It  dims  the  splen- 
dor of  the  crowns  of  kings  and  of  the  jewels 
which  sparkle  on  the  milk-white  breast  of  beauty. 
Sunlight  diffuses  itself  through  boundless  space  ; 
and  it  is  fairest  when  it  is  reflected  from  the 
noblest  objects,  —  from  planets  and  moons 
and  the  azure  vault  of  heaven,  from  evening 
and  morning  skies,  from  limpid  streams  and 
snowy  peaks.  So  truth  pervades  the  Universe, 
and  it  is  most  beautiful  when  its  mirror  is  the 
noblest  mind.  Though  ancient  as  the  stars,  it 
is  born  again  in  the  soul  of  genius,  and  issues 
thence,  clothed  in  new  glory,  to  refresh  and 
gladden  the  hearts  of  men.  We  may  learn  to 
be  happy  as  we  may  learn  whatever  else  is 
desirable.  We  are,  in  fact,  happy  when  we 
are  busy  providing  for  ourselves  and  others 
what  is  good  and  useful;  and  though  the  fruit 
of  our  toil  be  small,  the  labor  itself  makes  the 
waters  of  life  fresh  and  pleasant.  The  wider 
and  higher  the  world  thou  consciously  livest  in, 
the  greater  thy  opportunities  to  enrich  and 
purify  thy  life.  If  thou  art  tempted  to  envy  or 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  1 1/ 

hate  any  one,  think  of  the  sufferings,  sorrows, 
and  disappointments  which  he  has  had  to  bear, 
of  those  which  surely  must  still  befall  him,  and 
thy  heart  shall  be  softened.  In  presence  of 
what  is  inevitable  or  irremediable,  resignation 
is  not  difficult.  If  we  lose  a  hand  or  an  eye, 
we  make  shift  without  it.  Each  moment  brings 
death  nearer ;  but  since  there  is  no  escape,  we 
are  not  greatly  troubled.  We  are  more  dis- 
turbed by  a  calamity  which  threatens  than 
by  one  which  has  befallen  us.  Necessity 
teaches  us  to  bear  that  of  which  the  thought 
is  intolerable.  However  much  we  be  afraid  to 
die,  when  the  inexorable  messenger  presents 
himself,  he  shall  seem  less  terrible  than  we 
apprehend.  From  the  most  solemn  subjects 
jests  and  witticisms  rise  like  vapors  from  deep 
seas.  They  are  suggested  by  life  and  death, 
by  love  and  religion,  by  friendship  and  mar- 
riage. They  serve  as  a  relief  from  thoughts 
which  lie  too  deep  for  tears.  One  who  strives 
to  bring  about  changes  in  the  world  around 
him  may  easily  be  thwarted ;  but  he  who  labors 
with  himself  to  improve  his  own  mind  and 
heart  has  the  freedom  of  the  Universe,  the 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  and  cannot  be 
impeded.  The  best  educate  and  make  them- 
selves. Life  and  the  great  masters  and  obstinate 
labor  are  their  teachers. 


Il8  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

"  Our  demagogues,"  says  Schopenhauer, 
"would  have  us  believe  that,  if  governments 
did  their  duty,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  would 
appear;  to  wit,  that  all  men  would  be  able, 
without  difficulty,  to  stuff  themselves  with  food 
and  drink,  to  cohabit  and  dissolve  into  dust,  — 
for  this  is  what  they  mean  when  they  talk  of  the 
progress  of  mankind.''  Unless  thou  turn  from 
dreams  of  salvation  through  numbers  and  ma- 
jorities, and  give  thy  whole  thought  to  truth 
and  goodness,  thou  shalt  make  no  progress  nor 
become  able  to  render  divine  help.  Thou  must 
somehow  lay  hold  on  the  Eternal,  or  else  thy 
soul,  having  no  deep  root,  will  wither  and  be 
lost.  If  thou  feelest  that  thou  hast  done  little 
good,  there  is  at  least  much  evil  which  thou 
hast  not  done.  The  saint  finds  blessedness  in 
losing  himself  that  he  may  find  himself  in  God ; 
no  longer  now  a  petty  egoist,  but  part  of  the 
divine  life  and  universal  harmony.  In  this  spirit 
the  worthiest  work.  Not  to  weave  a  wreath 
about  a  name,  but  to  get  at  the  inner  heart  of 
truth  and  goodness,  a  noble  man  lives  and 
strives.  When,  therefore,  we  meet  with  one 
who  would  link  his  name  with  whatever  may 
feed  his  vanity,  we  sadly  smile,  as  when  we  hear 
the  old,  whose  minds  have  grown  feeble,  speak 
words  which  show  that  they  have  lost  their  hold 
on  the  real  world  and  are  wandering  amid 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  119 

shadowy  things.  The  infinite  Power  from  whom 
the  universal  fact  proceeds  is  now  as  it  has  been 
from  the  beginning ;  and  if  ever  anywhere  souls 
have  been  able  to  draw  thence  faith,  hope,  and 
love,  thou  mayst  here  and  now.  The  ideas 
from  which  the  thoughts  and  deeds  of  great 
hearts  spring  are  few  and  simple.  Any  one 
may  understand  them ;  but  in  the  great  heart 
they  are  not  mere  ideas,  but  substance  and  life. 
The  right  temper  makes  the  worst  situation 
tolerable ;  but  no  situation  can  redeem  the 
craven  from  misery.  Pericles  is  as  serene  in 
the  midst  of  the  pest,  himself  pest-stricken,  as 
when  he  watches  the  temples  of  the  Acropolis 
rise  in  celestial  splendor  against  the  sky  of 
Attica.  The  beauty  which  we  do  not  own, 
which  is  associated  with  no  sordid  interests,  has 
the  greatest  charm.  The  stars  and  the  moon, 
the  sunset  and  the  dawn,  the  leafy  hills  and  the 
snowy  peaks,  the  wild-flowers  and  the  songs  of 
wild  birds,  of  the  lark  in  the  blue  heavens  and 
of  the  nightingale,  up-perched  amid  cool  and 
bunched  leaves,  young  girls  who  are  heartwhole 
and  fancy  free,  —  are  all  the  fairer,  because  they 
are  the  possession  of  no  man,  but  belong  to 
worlds  where  mine  and  thine  —  those  frigid 
words  —  are  unknown. 

The  alchemists  sought  what  cannot  be  found, 
—  the  secret  of  converting  baser  metals  into 


120  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

gold ;  but  to  their  labors  we  owe  our  chemistry, 
which  has  given  us  a  world  of  precious  things 
that  mountains  of  gold  could  not  have  provided. 
If  thou  seekest  pleasure  or  money  or  fame,  and 
findest  in  the  end  that  thou  hast  gotten  only 
insight  and  wisdom,  be  thankful.  Expect  little 
of  life,  and  the  good  it  brings  will  be  doubly 
blessed.  No  one  renounces  his  faith  for  honor 
or  gold.  He  may  seem  to  do  so,  but  he  only 
seems.  If  thy  love  of  thy  possessions  be  not 
excessive,  thou  shalt  not  fear  those  who  have 
power  to  deprive  thee  of  them.  Profound  con- 
victions are  traditional,  and  they  who  have 
relaxed  their  hold  on  the  past  have  but  feeble 
spiritual  life.  From  a  base  soul  nothing  divine 
can  spring.  The  very  virtues  of  servile  natures 
are  faults.  Their  obedience  is  cowardice ;  their 
love,  selfishness;  their  faith,  a  calculation;  their 
chastity,  an  accident;  their  humility,  human 
respect.  God  made  thee  free,  Christ  has  clothed 
thee  with  a  higher  liberty ;  and  wilt  thou  still 
bear  the  heart  of  a  slave,  or  believe  that  He  who 
made  thee  would  have  thee  crawl  and  cringe, 
and  not  assert  thy  immortal  self  and  kinship 
with  Him?  Civilization,  like  religion,  is  the 
work  of  an  apostolate,  which  appeals  to  man's 
faith,  hope,  and  love,  to  his  need  of  truth  and 
beauty,  to  his  yearning  for  life  in  God  and 
in  humanity.  Schopenhauer  thinks  that  the 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  121 

necessity  of  laws  to  punish  crime  argues  the 
impotence  of  religious  faith.  But  civilization 
has  sprung  from  religious  faith  and  has  sought 
in  it  the  sanction  of  its  moral  and  legal  code. 
Hence  we  may  say  that  religion  makes  the  laws 
by  which  crime  is  punished ;  while  criminals 
themselves  are  found  chiefly  among  those  who 
have  no  religion. 

Truth  is  the  end  of  science ;  beauty,  of  art ; 
love,  of  religion :  and  truth,  beauty,  and  love 
are  a  trinity.  Take  care  first  of  thy  moral, 
then  of  thy  physical,  and  lastly  of  thy  intellec- 
tual health.  There  are  words  whose  very 
sound  moves  and  exalts  the  soul,  —  magna- 
nimity, love,  energy,  freedom,  truth.  To  speak 
them  is  to  feel  that  we  are  God's  men.  It  is 
an  advantage  to  belong  to  the  minority.  We 
thus  escape  the  baseness  of  those  who  run 
with  the  crowd,  and  are  urged  to  show,  in  our 
own  lives,  that  truth,  and  virtue  may  lift  a  man 
to  worlds  where  votes  count  for  nothing.  The 
majority  have  never  been  with  the  noblest 
souls;  and,  when  the  multitude  have  followed 
in  the  wake  of  divine  minds,  they  have  been 
drawn  by  the  hope  of  material,  not  of  spiritual 
good.  The  Saviour,  whose  heart  throbbed  with 
sympathy  for  the  many,  looked  to  the  few  to 
know  and  understand  him.  They  whose  spiri- 
tual nature  lies  dormant,  while  their  appetites 


122  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

are  alive  and  active,  are  animals ;  or  they  may 
be  called  fools,  since  they  have  no  sense  of 
man's  proper  good.  He  who  interests  me  in 
any  high  or  worthy  thing  does  me  better  service 
than  he  who  gives  me  great  place  or  wealth. 
In  speaking  of  the  highest  things  a  serious  man 
may  say  that  he  does  not  know,  but  he  may 
not  imply  that  he  does  not  care.  If  men  care 
not  for  thee,  it  is  not  because  they  bear  thee 
ill-will,  but  because  thou  hast  failed  to  interest 
and  help  them ;  and  whether  thy  failure  come 
of  lack  of  power  in  thyself  or  of  lack  of  appre- 
ciation in  them,  accept  the  fact  and  continue  to 

strive. 

Give  me  a  work  to  do, 

This  is  the  richest  gift; 
The  heart  no  rest  can  woo 
Unless  work  bring  it  shrift. 

Living  knowledge  is  that  which  we  put  to 
use,  which  remains  with  us  as  a  source  of  light 
and  strength.  As  a  child  stretches  forth  its 
hand  to  grasp  everything,  so  let  a  man  apply 
his  mind  to  all  that  God  has  made.  They  are 
wise  who  are  taught  wisdom  by  the  events  of 
daily  life.  A  watch  counts  the  seconds,  and  so 
does  a  wise  man.  He  dies  richest  from  whom 
the  greatest  number  inherit  the  fairest  gifts. 
When  we  have  attained  the  highest  point  of 
our  spiritual  growth,  the  knowledge  and  wis- 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  123 

dom  which  we  have  gained  serve  chiefly  to 
throw  a  purer  and  holier  light  on  the  dreams, 
hopes,  and  loves  of  our  childhood.  When  a 
stick  was  for  me  a  horse,  grains  of  corn  my 
flocks  and  herds,  and  a  game  of  marbles  as 
interesting  as  now  the  rivalries  and  struggles 
of  men, —  happy  was  I,  having  the  divine  power 
to  make  a  world  out  of  nothing. 

Like  to  a  star, 
Without  rest, 
Without  haste, 
Let  each  one  revolve 
'Bout  his  God-given  task. 

He  whose  mind  is  uplit  by  great  thoughts, 
which  he  follows  with  steadfast  will,  has  an  anti- 
dote for  life's  poisons.  The  sun  is  afire,  the 
earth  is  awhirl,  the  atoms  are  athrill;  souls 
are  believing,  hoping,  loving;  God  lives.  Why 
should  I  be  troubled?  Thou  wilt  not  hurt  me, 
O  my  God !  or  if  Thou  punish,  Thou  wilt  do  it 
at  the  behest  of  love,  and  because  it  is  right. 

Heat,  light,  electricity,  —  love,  knowledge, 
genius.  Once  thou  knowest  what  thou  art 
born  to  do,  wait  not  to  be  called,  heed  not 
when  men  forbid.  That  which  it  is  always  well 
to  have,  be  the  business  what  it  may,  is  not  so 
much  an  orator,  a  journalist,  or  a  scholar,  as  a 
man  of  good  sense  and  discernment,  capable 
of  judging  rightly,  and  incapable  of  acting 


124  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

without  prudence  and  courage.  But  where  is 
the  school  in  which  the  chief  aim  and  effort  is 
to  form  such  men?  Nature  is  wholly  matter 
of  fact,  without  any  touch  of  sentiment;  and 
she  thrusts  aside  the  foolish  and  incompetent 
as  though  they  had  no  right  to  exist  at  all. 
There  is  no  better  test  of  truth  than  its  helpful- 
ness. It  is  joy,  freedom,  and  power;  it  clothes 
life  with  higher  meaning  and  impels  it  to 
diviner  issues.  But  error  is  confusion  and 
weakness.  It  keeps  no  promise,  inspires  no 
heroic  moods,  and  leaves  us,  at  the  end,  with  a 
sense  of  the  illusiveness  of  all  things. 

All  other  things  I  do  because  I  ought, 
But  this,  my  soul,  because  I  will  and  must. 

The  whole  business  of  science  is  to  discover 
what  is  and  happens,  and  how  it  is  and  happens. 
Further  than  this  it  does  not  go.  Why,  then, 
should  any  soul  alive  wish  to  quarrel  with 
science?  He  in  whose  words  we  find  ever  anew 
fresh  sources  of  inspiration  is  a  true  master. 
Test  thy  thought  by  deeds,  thy  deeds  by  thought. 
We  hear  but  what  we  understand  and  see  but 
what  we  know.  One's  relations  with  the  in- 
competent are  always  unsatisfactory.  To  lead 
a  quiet,  contented,  and  unpretentious  existence 
is,  I  suppose,  best  for  all,  but  certainly  for  those 
who  would  give  themselves  to  a  life  of  thought. 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  12$ 

A  genial  humanity,  kindly,  cheerful,  modest, 
open,  and  tolerant  is  what  the  Germans  mean 
by  their  great  word,  "  Gemiithlichkeit"  It  is 
a  virtue  we  all  need  to  cultivate.  A  wise  man 
is  slow  to  denounce  one  who,  whatever  his 
faults,  has  great  qualities.  Foolish,  then,  is 
he  who  vituperates  a  people  which  has  played 
an  important  part  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Abuse  is  vulgar,  and  vulgarity  is  largely  igno- 
rance. An  undue  opinion  of  one's  own  im- 
portance is  a  mark  of  an  unbalanced  mind. 
It  needs  but  a  little  exaggeration  to  become 
one  of  the  common  forms  of  insanity.  The 
good  of  life  lies  in  the  possibility  it  affords,  to 
beings  born  ignorant,  to  bring  themselves  into 
conscious  and  sympathetic  union  with  all  that 
is  true,  good,  and  beautiful;  and  to  make  this 
possibility  a  reality  is  the  task  imposed  by  the 
heavenly  powers  on  each  one,  as  he  enters  the 
world.  Let  it  be  thy  aim  to  unite  the  love  of 
beauty  with  simplicity,  intellectual  culture  with 
moral  purpose,  and  ceaseless  striving  with  a 
calm  spirit. 

In  art  God  reveals  Himself  as  beauty;  in 
philosophy  and  science,  as  truth;  in  conduct 
and  religion,  as  righteousness  and  love.  Vir- 
tues are  nourished  by  weaknesses  and  wants. 
Intelligence  and  moral  strength  are  the  results 
of  our  own  efforts,  and  of  those  of  our  fore- 


126  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

fathers,  to  escape  hunger,  cold,  disease,  and 
dangers  of  a  thousand  kinds.  Our  maladies 
have  not  only  given  us  insight  into  the  struc- 
ture of  the  body,  and  led  to  the  discovery  of 
means  of  prevention  and  cure;  but  they  have 
taught  us  sympathy  and  all  the  delicate  service 
of  charity  and  love.  The  privation  of  what  we 
desire  has  inspired  the  labors  to  which  we  owe 
the  marvellous  inventions  that  enable  us  almost 
to  suppress  distance  and  time.  The  conscious- 
ness of  ignorance,  which  is  most  intense  in  the 
most  powerful  minds,  has  given  the  impulse  to 
the  studies  from  which  our  philosophy  and 
science  have  sprung.  The  sense  of  the  lack 
of  beauty  has  spurred  genius  to  its  immortal 
creations.  Hopeless  loss  has  made  us  aware 
of  the  worth  of  resignation,  courage,  and  mag- 
nanimity. Tyranny  and  injustice  have  brought 
home  to  us  the  value  of  freedom  and  law;  and 
our  sins  and  vices  have  made  us  understand 
our  boundless  need  of  the  infinite  mercy  of 
God.  Thus  suffering  and  sorrow,  which  seem 
to  be  our  enemies,  are  heavenly  messengers 
sent  to  teach  us  how  we  may  attain  higher 
and  purer  life. 

Our  sympathy  extends  not  to  our  fellow- 
men  alone,  but  to  all  things,  —  to  dogs  and 
horses  and  birds ;  to  the  house  we  live  in 
or  where  live  those  we  love ;  to  our  city,  our 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  I2/ 

country;  to  hills  and  streams;  to  the  pen  we 
write  with ;  to  the  chair  we  sit  in  ;  to  the  flowers 
and  the  stars  and  the  trees ;  to  sorrows,  perhaps, 
which  have  been  with  us  so  long  that  they  seem 
to  have  become  part  of  ourselves;  to  caged 
animals ;  to  criminals  and  outcasts ;  to  viewless 
atoms ;  and  to  whatever  else  may  help  to  bind 
the  universe  about  the  feet  of  God  and  around 
the  heart  of  man.  Let  us  not  think  meanly  of 
matter,  which  is  God's  creature,  —  the  expres- 
sion of  His  will,  and  the  witness  of  His  power 
and  wisdom. 

Until  the  Copernican  astronomy  was  estab- 
lished the  revolution  of  the  celestial  bodies 
around  the  earth  was  as  true  as  any  other 
phenomenon.  It  fitted  into  the  general  order 
of  nature  and  was  part  of  its  uniformity.  Now 
it  is  no  longer  a  fact  but  an  illusion.  This  is 
but  a  feeble  example  of  the  transformation 
which  the  universe  of  material  things  undergoes 
in  passing  through  the  philosophic  mind.  Sen- 
sation first,  then  thought;  and  in  the  end,  as  in 
the  beginning,  faith. 

Generous  souls  hide  their  good  deeds  as 
though  they  were  evil.  If  all  that  the  heart 
can  desire  were  given  us,  the  motive  of  action 
would  cease  to  exist  and  life  would  lose  its 
charm.  They  alone  appreciate  the  masterpiece 
in  whom  its  contemplation  calls  forth  the  mood 


128  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

in  which  the  genius  created  his  work.  The 
genuinely  good  —  the  gentle,  patient,  loving, 
and  helpful  souls,  who  bear  all  and  think  no 
evil,  who  minister  without  a  thought  of  self  — 
have  divine  power.  In  their  presence  genius  is 
obscured,  and  beauty  bows  in  recognition  of  a 
higher  and  holier  splendor  of  truth. 

The  scientific  view  does  not  impel  to  con- 
duct. Physicians  are  apt  to  neglect  their 
health ;  theologians  are  not  pious ;  philosophers 
have  little  wisdom ;  and  men  of  science  them- 
selves are  wanting  in  faith,  the  chief  source  of 
conduct.  Whatever  a  sensible  author  writes 
is  an  Essay  on  Man.  The  mind,  not  the  body, 
inspires  the  purest  and  most  enduring  love. 
It  is  difficult  for  the  rich  to  know  whether  they 
are  loved  for  themselves;  and  hence  they 
easily  become  hard  and  distrustful.  It  profits 
nothing  to  dwell  on  wrongs  suffered  by  our- 
selves or  our  ancestors,  unless  they  remind  us 
of  the  courage  with  which  they  were  borne. 
The  knowledge  which  leads  us  to  contemn  any- 
thing is  not  wisdom.  A  single  mind  has  given 
here  and  there  a  new  point  of  view  to  succeed- 
ing generations,  and  has  thus  compelled  the 
thoughts  and  efforts  of  men  into  new  channels. 
Or  shall  we  not  rather  say,  that  an  impulse 
from  God,  communicating  itself  through  single 
minds,  works  these  wonders?  We  no  sooner 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  I2Q 

give  evidence  of  ability  than  we  are  appealed 
to,  to  speak,  to  write,  to  act;  and  this  appeal 
is  made  when  we  are  immature,  and,  like  the 
immature,  long  for  recognition,  and  find  praise 
sweet.  The  result  is  that  we  are  drawn  into 
the  world  when  we  most  need  to  live  within 
ourselves,  that  we  may  learn  to  cherish  the 
inner  sources  of  power.  We  get  applause  or 
money,  and  soon  grow  blind  to  the  ignominy 
of  bartering  the  noblest  gifts  for  emptiness  or 
mere  matter;  and,  as  a  consequence,  we  neither 
upbuild  our  being  nor  perform  anything  of 
enduring  worth. 

Persons  alone  are  interesting;  and  when  in 
a  book  an  original  personality  is  revealed,  we 
inevitably  yield  to  its  charm.  Physical,  politi- 
cal, and  social  liberty  is  necessarily  limited ; 
and,  when  we  attempt  to  overstep  its  bounds, 
we  fall  into  folly  or  license.  Let  us  be  content 
if  we  have  enough  for  health  and  the  work  we 
were  born  to  do ;  and  turn  our  thoughts  to  the 
inner  world  of  truth  and  goodness,  which  is  the 
birthplace  and  home  of  freedom.  If  thy  en- 
dowments are  rich  they  will  require  a  long  time 
to  unfold  themselves;  and  thou  shalt  easily 
acquire  industry  and  patience,  for  thou  shalt 
feel  that  the  best  in  thee  has  not  yet  been 
brought  into  act.  The  decisive  thing  for  each 
one  is  the  intelligence  and  steadfastness  with 
9 


130  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

which  he  follows  a  life-aim,  whether  it  be  high 
or  common.  In  striving  still  to  hold  what  has 
lost  meaning  and  the  power  to  nourish  life,  we 
do  harm  to  our  spiritual  nature,  as  the  body 
suffers  when  what  becomes  effete  within  it  is  not 
eliminated.  Words  are  to  deeds  as  woman  is 
to  man.  As  the  sound  of  cataracts  is  more 
distinctly  heard  at  night,  so  the  voice  of  con- 
science speaks  in  clearer  accents  from  the  midst 
of  the  gloom  in  which  sorrow  envelops  us.  God 
has  so  made  us  that  we  can  find  no  genuine  joy 
in  destroying  and  denying,  but  only  in  creating 
and  in  affirming  with  new  power  the  everlasting 
worth  of  truth  and  love.  How  many  we  see  who 
have  all  earthly  blessings,  except  the  mind  to 
use  them  right !  How  much  importance  even 
a  great  philosopher  may  attach  to  one  of  his 
thoughts  we  see  in  the  instance  of  Hegel,  who 
complains  of  Goethe  for  appropriating  his  ex- 
planation of  the  saying,  that  no  man  is  a  hero 
to  his  body  servant ;  the  reason  being  that  the 
servile  nature  is  incapable  of  understanding  the 
heroic.  As  there  is  not  a  patriotic  philosophy, 
science,  or  art,  so  there  is  not  a  patriotic  reli- 
gion, if  it  be  true.  "  Trifles,"  said  Michelangelo, 
"  constitute  perfection,  and  perfection  is  not  a 
trifle."  The  gentle  mind  makes  the  gentleman. 

Religion  shields  with  heaven-built  wall 
The  feebler  sex,  and  thus  safeguards  us  all. 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  131 

If  to-day  I  see  that  what  I  have  held  to  be  truth 
is  not  truth,  it  follows  that  I  have  grown  wiser; 
and  so  I  take  fresh  courage  and  sail  for  new 
worlds.  Life  is  full  enough  of  disenchantments, 
and  the  lessons  they  teach  are  not  hard  to  learn. 
Let  us,  then,  if  we  would  win  the  gratitude  of 
men,  not  discourage  but  inspire  them  with 
brave  and  cheerful  thoughts.  There  are  things 
in  which  to  have  great  skill  is  a  mark  of  infe- 
rior talent  or  judgment.  When  some  one  told 
Antisthenes  that  Ismenias  was  an  excellent 
piper,  he  said :  "  It  may  be  so ;  but  he  is  a 
poor  sort  of  man,  for  else  he  would  not  be  an 
excellent  piper."  Since  we  cannot  excel  in 
many  things,  let  us  apply  ourselves  to  those 
which  are  most  deserving  of  the  thought  and 
labor  of  immortal  beings. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THOUGHTS   AND   THEORIES. 

For  me  God  made  the  light  and  air, 
Made  also  truth  and  love  for  me  ; 

They  lie  about  me  everywhere, 
And  are  my  life  and  liberty. 

FROM  the   sluggish   and   turbid    stream  of 
current  opinion,  steer  forth  into  the  wide 
and   pacific   ocean  of  truth,  where  thou  mayst 
hope  to  learn  to  know  and  love  what  God  knows 
and  loves. 

The  noblest  and  purest  sentiments  and  im- 
pulses often  lead  to  failure  and  unhappiness,  as 
though  God  would  thus  show  us  that  the  highest 
and  the  best  cannot  be  rewarded  with  material 
gifts,  but  that  there  is  a  higher  than  happiness, 
—  the  blessedness,  namely,  which  is  known 
only  to  the  sincerest  and  most  loving  souls.  If, 
on  another  planet,  there  are  beings  like  our- 
selves, for  them  the  earth  is  but  a  bright  star 
which  glistens  on  the  brow  of  evening  or  of 
morning.  Its  barren  mountains  and  deserts,  its 
tragedies  of  sin  and  sorrow  and  death,  for  them 
have  no  existence.  Only  the  light  with  its 


THOUGHTS  AND   THEORIES.  133 

glory  and  beauty  penetrates  the  abysmal  depths 
of  space ;  and  so  they  who  look  forth  from 
eternity  may  see  in  God's  universe  but  the 
light  of  love  and  truth. 

If  we  approach  nature  in  the  right  moodr  she 
will  not  betray  our  trust.  The  hermit  finds  the 
bleak  mountain  full  of  peace  and  beauty.  There 
silence  is  sweeter  than  music,  the  stars  look 
down  with  a  more  tender  sympathy,  the  thun- 
der's voice  is  more  glorious,  the  flowers  are 
more  pathetic.  Even  the  jagged  heights,  the 
chasms  and  torrents,  seem  to  enter  the  circle 
of  human  sympathies  and  claim  kinship  with 
him. 

As  the  flowers  bloom  on  the  graves  of  those 
we  love,  so  let  our  thoughts  of  them  be  fragrant 
with  the  cheerful  spirit  of  faith  and  hope.  Love 
reveals  to  us  our  infinite  poverty  —  our  bound- 
less need  of  it,  and  our  utter  inability  to  reward 
the  simplest  soul  who  loves  us.  Inner  strength, 
strength  of  mind,  heart,  and  conscience,  is 
human  life,  and  the  source  of  all  that  makes 
life  precious  and  delightful.  Hence  the  highest 
aim  and  end  of  education  is  to  nourish  and 
develop  inner  strength. 

The  more  we  live  within  ourselves,  the  richer 
and  the  more  health-bringing  will  the  current 
of  our  lives  flow  to  others.  If  thou  hast  wealth, 
whether  it  be  money  or  knowledge  or  virtue, 


134  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

it  will  become  known.  Work,  in  the  doing  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  think,  is  inferior  and 
hurtful  to  prosperity  of  soul.  It  is  the  kind  of 
work  she  does  which  gives  to  woman  her  greater 
delicacy,  refinement,  and  insight ;  her  more  inti- 
mate consciousness  of  the  worth  of  morality  and 
religion,  of  beauty  and  love.  Make  no  claims 
upon  others ;  demand  of  them  neither  recogni- 
tion nor  appreciation  nor  gratitude,  but  trust 
in  God  and  in  thyself.  The  wrongs  which  we 
have  done  are  like  voices  from  heaven  urging 
us  to  make  them  good.  Hope  and  faith  perish 
as  they  merge  into  love  and  knowledge;  but 
they  perish  also  when  they  merge  into  animal 
indifference  and  sensual  indulgence.  The  more 
superior  thou  art,  the  less  shalt  thou  be  guided 
in  the  way  of  what  is  called  happiness ;  and 
the  more  shalt  thou  be  tried  and  afflicted,  that 
through  tribulation  thou  mayst  be  brought  to 
deeper  insight  and  purer  love. 

The  radical  soul-mood,  in  which  feelings  and 
emotions,  experienced  and  repeated  through 
years,  have  settled  into  permanence  and  con- 
sistency, and  for  which  we  have  no  proper  word, 
determines  more  than  all  else  our  life  and  fate. 
Our  opinions  spring  from  the  will  rather  than 
from  intellectual  views.  We  easily  accept  as 
we  readily  do  what  suits  us,  what  is  in  harmony 
with  our  temperament  and  prejudices.  We  take 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  135 

the  part  of  those  we  like,  believing  they  are  right, 
because  we  like  them.  We  lean  to  the  side  of 
what  is  low  or  high,  sensual  or  spiritual,  in 
virtue  of  the  law  which  draws  like  to  like  and 
kind  to  kind.  They  who  care  or  care  not 
for  music  or  painting  or  poetry,  or  the  beauties 
of  nature  or  display,  or  delicious  food  and 
drink,  are  not  swayed  by  logic,  but  by  taste  and 
feeling.  For  this  reason  teaching  and  preach- 
ing accomplish  so  little.  We  receive  informa- 
tion and  listen  to  arguments,  but  our  soul-mood 
remains  unchanged.  Nothing  is  more  disap- 
pointing than  to  expect  good  results  from  talk- 
ing to  people  about  what  they  do  not  or  will 
not  see  for  themselves.  The  truth  which  we 
receive  mechanically,  as  we  take  a  book  from 
another's  hand,  is  not  truth  for  us.  It  is  a  mere 
formula ;  and  it  would  be  as  wise  to  attempt  to 
nourish  the  body  with  chemical  formulas  as  to 
hope  to  strengthen  and  illumine  the  mind  with 
words  which  are  accepted,  indeed,  but  not  pon- 
dered and  wrought  into  one's  spiritual  being. 

It  requires  more  ability  and  courage  to  think 
rightly  than  to  act  well.  The  power  of  seeing 
what  we  think  of,  of  forming  a  mental  image 
which  brings  the  thing  before  the  mind  in  dis- 
tinct outlines  and  vivid  colors,  the  true  teacher 
will  strive  assiduously  to  develop  and  train.  It 
gives  a  life  and  reality  to  thoughts  and  words 


136  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

which  nothing  else  can  impart  to  them.  Who 
educates  a  boy,  it  is  said,  educates  an  indi- 
vidual; who  educates  a  girl,  educates  a  family. 
But  it  may  happen  that  in  educating  a  boy  we 
help  to  educate  a  whole  people.  The  posses- 
sion of  wealth  gives  a  sense  of  security  and 
independence;  but  intellectual  and  moral  power 
alone  can  give  the  joy  and  peace  which  are 
blessedness. 

Put  from  thee  all  pretentiousness,  bear  good 
will  to  all  men,  and  learn,  as  far  as  this  is  pos- 
sible, to  do  without  them.  In  seeking  to  influ- 
ence others  it  is  easy  to  go  astray;  but  in 
working  for  one's  own  intellectual  and  moral 
improvement,  the  way  is  plain  and  safe.  Hadst 
thou  been  born  and  reared,  surrounded  and 
tempted,  like  the  criminal  who  excites  thy  in- 
dignation, thou  shouldst  probably  not  be  better 
than  he.  Apply  this  thought  to  whatever  may 
prejudice  thee,  or  make  thee  harsh  in  judging 
thy  fellow-beings.  Millions  of  human  beings 
might  be  wiser  and  happier  than  they  are; 
but  attend  thou  to  the  two  or  three  near  thee 
whom  thou  mayst  and  shouldst  make  wiser  and 
happier.  Think  not  what  thou  wouldst  do, 
hadst  thou  other  powers  and  opportunities,  but 
with  what  thou  hast  do  what  thou  canst.  "  I 
have  done  what  I  could,"  he  said,  and  his  lips 
closed  forever.  The  virtuous  and  the  innocent 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  137 

are  patient  and  mild,  and  the  truly  religious  are 
meek  and  loving.  God's  knowledge  could  not 
make  Him  happy,  if  it  were  not  also  love.  He 
who  is  sustained  by  strength  of  mind  and  heart 
is  great,  and  kings  who  lack  this  are  weaklings. 
Go  thy  way  with  a  tranquil  mind  and  without 
haste;  thou  shalt  reach  the  end  just  as  surely  as 
though  thou  shouldst  madly  rush. 

The  divine  message  which  the  greatest  men 
have  borne  to  the  world  is  this,  —  Love  truth 
and  be  true  to  love.  Doing  and  suffering  are 
the  great  teachers.  They  are,  in  fact,  the  only 
creators  of  knowledge  and  power  which  God 
has  given  to  man. 

Each  one  must  feel  wherein  his  talent  and 
vocation  lie ;  for,  in  following  this,  he  follows  a 
divine  call,  is  self-impelled;  and  the  self-im- 
pelled alone  continue  to  be  active  and  accom- 
plish enduring  work.  The  effort,  not  the  success, 
determines  moral  worth.  Sorrow  and  disap- 
pointments make  only  the  weak  despondent 
or  bitter.  Nature  will  not  change  her  laws  for 
thee ;  learn  then  to  understand  and  obey  them. 
God  can  give  thee  nothing  so  good  as  the  love 
of  Himself.  Self-sacrifice  is  the  law  of  man's 
life  and  development.  He  finds  himself  in 
abandoning  himself,  in  giving  up  the  lower  for 
the  higher,  in  devoting  the  present  to  make 
possible  a  better  future,  which,  in  turn,  when 


138  LIFE  AND  EDUCATIOAT. 

it  becomes  the  present,  must  be  also  sacrificed 
that  something  better  may  be  attained. 

Thus  human  life  is  aspiration,  desire,  and 
effort;  a  rising  through  faith  and  hope  out  of 
one's  self  toward  the  ideal  of  a  nobler  self. 
This  is  the  way  of  progress  from  the  helpless- 
ness and  imbecility  of  childhood  to  the  strength 
and  wisdom  of  heroes  and  sages  ;  this  is  the  law 
of  love,  which  in  abandoning  all  finds  all.  This 
is  religion,  this  is  philosophy.  So  long  as  there 
are  men  who  turn  from  themselves  to  a  truer 
and  diviner  Self,  so  long  shall  there  be  those 
who  love  God  and  one  another,  who  strive  and 
toil,  bear  and  suffer,  that  they  may  hasten  the 
coming  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  and  the  prev- 
alence of  the  divine  will  on  earth. 

Religion  is  the  atmosphere  in  which  fathers 
and  mothers  and  children,  friends  and  lovers, 
breathe  with  freedom  and  true  inward  delight. 
It  alone  makes  it  possible  for  them  to  say  and 
to  feel  that  their  union  is  eternal.  It  gives  them 
simplicity  and  sincerity,  mildness  and  patience, 
sympathy  and  helpfulness.  What  we  suffer  for 
becomes  sacred  to  us :  the  child  to  the  mother, 
his  country  to  the  soldier,  his  art  to  the  man  of 
genius,  his  work  to  every  noble  striver.  Permit 
not  thy  faults  to  discourage  thee ;  thou  failest 
in  many  things;  but  if  with  a  simple  heart  thou 
strivest  to  do  well,  it  is  well  with  thee.  The 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  139 

higher  thy  service,  and  the  greater  the  number 
of  those  whom  thou  servest,  the  nobler  thy  life. 
To  pray  or  to  read  a  book  of  devotion  in  a 
mechanical  way,  is  not  only  not  prayer,  but,  if 
habitual,  it  weakens  the  power  of  attention  and 
undermines  mental  vigor.  It  is  not  only  loss 
of  time,  but  a  hindrance  to  intellectual  and 
moral  growth.  To  be  beautiful  or  intellectual 
or  great,  merely  by  contrast,  is  a  poor  thing; 
but  to  be  beautiful  or  intellectual  or  great,  in 
the  company  of  the  beautiful,  the  intellectual, 
and  the  great,  is  a  divine  thing.  Put  far  from 
thee,  then,  jealousy  and  envy,  knowing  that  the 
good  of  others  heightens  thy  own. 

In  the  tumult  of  the  passions  and  of  the  life 
around  us,  it  is  difficult  not  to  cease  to  be  one's 
self,  not  to  become  the  sport  of  chaotic  ele- 
ments ;  above  all,  is  it  difficult  in  the  midst  of 
this  turmoil,  to  reach  the  serene  heights  where 
the  soul  sees  God  and  lives  for  truth  and  love. 
Cultivate  thy  own  field,  employ  thy  own  talent, 
live  thy  own  life.  If  it  should  be  thy  lot  to  live 
in  the  midst  of  harsh,  narrow,  and  unreason- 
able people,  thou  needst'  not  be  unhappy, 
if  thou  canst  still  see  in  them  the  elemental 
principles  which  make  man  worthy  of  sympathy 
and  love. 

Praise  is  most  pleasing  to  the  young  and  the 
frivolous.  The  love  of  it  is  a  mark  of  immatu- 


I4O  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

rity,  a  proof  that  we  are  still  standing  on  the 
lower  rungs  of  the  ladder  which  leads  to  true 
worth  and  honor.  Egoism  is  foolishness ;  it 
comes  of  a  lack  of  sense  for  relation  and  pro- 
portion ;  it  is  an  inversion  of  the  divine  order  of 
things.  In  jealousy  there  is  a  sense  of  inferi- 
ority. It  is  a  mistake  to  speak  of  one's 
troubles;  they  are  never  interesting  to  others. 

There  is  surely  a  ray  of  the  Godhead  in 
thoughts  which  wander  through  eternity,  which 
embrace  heaven  and  earth,  which  weigh  the 
stars  and  compel  remotest  suns  to  deliver  the 
secret  of  the  elements  of  which  they  are  com- 
posed. A  true  woman's  love  is  more  precious 
than  the  crowns  of  kings,  than  the  wreaths 
wherewith  the  brow  of  genius  is  entwined. 
Bear,  O  woman !  the  divine  gift  in  an  immacu- 
late heart ;  for  God  bestowed  it  that  thou  might- 
est  raise  and  illumine  souls,  and  make  them 
feel  that  the  All-powerful  is  also  the  All-loving. 

We  are  born  of  God.  In  and  with  Him  we 
live.  To  be  separate  from  Him  is  not  to  be  or 
to  be  nothing;  to  have  conscious,  permanent 
communion  with  Him,  is  to  have  eternal  life. 
The  miracle  of  miracles  is  a  knowing,  loving 
soul.  The  more  we  live  within  the  mind,  the 
more  shadowy  and  unsubstantial  the  material 
world  becomes  for  us,  and  the  more  independent 
we  become  of  its  tyrannic  sway.  Speak  and  write 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  141 

what  fills  thee  with  peace  and  the  sense  of  free- 
dom which  only  truth  can  give.  It  will  do  thee 
good,  whether  or  not  it  bring  light  and  solace  to 
any  other  soul. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  be  impartial  with 
one's  self,  for  he  who  passes  the  judgment  finds 
himself,  with  all  his  ignorance  and  prejudice,  in 
the  judgment.  Hence  the  wise  gladly  hear 
the  honest  opinions  of  others  about  themselves  ; 
for  through  their  eyes  they  may  hope  to  see 
themselves  better  than  with  their  own.  No  one 
owes  thee  praise ;  and  if  approval  is  bestowed 
on  thee,  receive  it  not  as  thy  due,  but  with 
thankfulness  as  a  gift.  Rejoice  in  all  the  great 
achievements  of  men  and  nations,  whether  or 
not  they  seem  to  be  in  harmony  with  thy  per- 
sonal interests  and  opinions.  The  good  feel 
that  the  treasure-house  of  the  race  is  not  full 
enough  of  noble  deeds  and  words,  and  are  un- 
willing that  any  precious  thing  which  adds  dig- 
nity to  human  nature  should  be  lost  sight  of  or 
obscured.  Look  at  great  men,  whether  thou 
knowest  them  in  person  or  only  in  their  words 
and  deeds,  with  admiration,  but  with  an  inde- 
pendent spirit,  which  stoops  not  to  imitation, 
but  draws  from  such  contemplation  nourishment 
and  strength  to  lead  its  own  life,  to  fulfil  its 
divinely  given  and  self-appointed  course.  Live 
in  what  is  of  universal  interest,  in  what  must  be 


142  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

considered  good  and  true  and  right  by  all  who 
think  in  whatever  age  or  land.  It  is  only 
through  the  development  of  one's  endowments 
that  it  is  possible  to  approach  the  ideal.  The 
self-active  can  hardly  fail  to  find  their  proper 
work.  Since  in  human  life  there  is  no  com- 
pleteness, progress  is  the  law  of  our  being.  If 
I  carry  aught  beyond  the  grave,  it  must  be  the 
thought  and  love  with  which  I  have  lived  so 
long,  and  which  is  so  much  part  of  me,  that, 
without  it,  I  should  not  be  myself.  All  else 
may  fall  from  me  as  the  blossoms  fall  from  the 
tree ;  but  if  my  thought  and  love  should  perish, 
I  should  be  no  more. 

The  most  unfavorable  environment  is  not  that 
which  prevents  us  from  accomplishing  anything 
whatever,  but  that  which  hinders  us  from  becom- 
ing true  men  and  women.  Take  many  points 
of  view  that  thou  mayst  understand  the  many 
ways  in  which  the  many  kinds  of  men  look  at 
the  world.  So  shalt  thou  come  to  see  them  not 
through  the  mists  of  thy  prejudices,  but  in  the 
light  of  their  own  thoughts. 

If  thou  art  busy  upbuilding  thine  own  being, 
thou  shalt  easily  learn  to  respect  individuality 
in  others.  To  the  best  larger  freedom  should 
be  conceded,  but  if  they  yield  to  the  baser  ap- 
petites they  are  not  the  best.  Blessed  are  they 
who  need  nothing  except  God  and  their  own 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  143 

thoughts.  Whoever  has  known  the  love  of  any 
worthy  man  or  woman  can  hardly  think  meanly 
of  human  nature.  A  brave  and  cheerful  spirit 
makes  the  path  of  knowledge  and  virtue  easy 
and  delightful.  He  who  has  found  truth  is  not 
disturbed  by  the  noise  and  pomp  with  which 
lies  make  their  tours  through  the  world,  nor 
does  he  look  with  envy  on  the  palaces  in  which 
their  votaries  dwell.  Better  doubt  than  pretend 
to  accept  what  thou  knowest  to  be  false.  The 
important  consideration  is  not  what  or  who  is 
seen,  but  who  sees.  O  holy  indifference  to  the 
thousand  things  about  which  men  fret  and  wear 
themselves  with  worry  !  thou  art  half  of  life's 
wisdom.  Strong  men  experience  a  sense  of 
helplessness  when  they  recall  their  early  days 
and  feel  that  now  they  no  longer  have  a  father 
or  a  mother  to  lean  upon,  while  they  themselves 
have  lost  the  power  to  open  their  whole  heart 
though  a  father  and  a  mother  were  left  to  them. 
What  would  they  not  give  for  one  hour  from 
out  the  blessed  time,  when  those  cherished 
beings  sheltered  them  from  even  the  shadow  of 
fear — God's  providence  made  visible  to  love 
and  guide  and  watch  over  them.  Belong  nei- 
ther to  the  school  of  the  weeping  philosophers 
nor  to  that  of  the  laughing,  but  let  a  brave  and 
cheerful  spirit  make  thy  life  at  once  serious  and 
joyful.  Expression  has  more  charm  than  fea- 


144  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

ture,  because  it  is  the  symbol  of  one's  spiritual 
life,  while  feature  is  but  physical.  A  single  virtue, 
if  possessed  in  an  heroic  degree,  though  found 
in  a  character  disfigured  by  faults,  not  only  re- 
deems its  possessor  from  infamy,  but  makes 
him  forever  interesting.  Whatever  else  the 
individual  may  sacrifice,  he  may  not  give  up 
the  right  to  develop  his  spiritual  endowments, 
to  grow  in  intellectual  and  moral  power,  for  this 
would  be  to  abandon  the  right  to  become  and 
be  human,  to  become  and  be  a  free  and  rational 
being.  Whatever  tends  to  reduce  man's  spirit- 
ual being  to  a  state  of  inactivity,  to  an  attitude  of 
passiveness  in  the  presence  of  the  highest  and 
holiest,  is  evil,  and  leads  to  the  soul's  destruc- 
tion. To  forbid  to  think  and  strive  is  to  forbid 
to  hope  and  love.  What  absolute  value  the 
human  mind  attributes  to  reason  is  manifest  in 
the  fact  that  all  men,  however  opposite  and  con- 
tradictory their  opinions  and  beliefs,  appeal  to 
reason  to  justify  them.  Facts  themselves  are 
facts  only  so  far  as  reason  accepts  them  as  such. 
The  immobility  of  the  earth  ceases  to  be  a  fact 
when  reason  declares  that  it  is  not  a  fact,  but 
an  illusion. 

Why  object  that  the  thought  I  utter  has  been 
expressed  by  others?  May  I  not  praise  the 
stars  because  their  glory  has  been  sung  by  the 
noblest  poets?  The  faults  of  others  displease 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  145 

us  most  when  they  are  our  own.  If  we  could 
determine  the  course  of  man's  life  as  we  do 
that  of  a  planet,  he  would  be  an  unfree,  wholly 
material  being.  Let  not  then  human  incon- 
sistencies trouble  thee,  but  rejoice  rather  that 
man's  ways  are  incalculable. 

If  thou  shouldst  think  that  it  is  only  probable 
that  there  is  a  God,  or  that  truth  and  virtue  are 
the  best,  do  all  thou  canst,  by  action  and  medi- 
tation, to  persuade  thyself  that  this  probability 
is  a  certainty ;  for  to  know  and  feel  that  God 
is  and  that  He  is  truth  and  goodness,  is  strength 
and  joy  and  peace.  Weep  not  with  Alexander, 
because  there  are  no  more  worlds  to  conquer; 
nor  with  Heraclitus,  over  the  miseries  of  man- 
kind ;  but  do  thy  work,  learning  day  by  day  to 
do  it  with  more  perfect  skill  and  thoroughness. 
If  thou  hast  done  good  work,  thou  hast  thy  re- 
ward ;  but  if  thy  work  is  poor,  why  shouldst  thou 
be  rewarded? 

The  hope  that  our  labors  shall  at  last  lead 
us  to  rest  and  the  tranquil  enjoyment  of  life, 
is  an  incentive  to  effort,  and  therefore  good, 
though  delusive,  since  active  minds  are  incap- 
able of  repose  and  the  tranquil  enjoyment  of 
life.  Whether  consciousness  is  good  or  evil 
depends  on  what  we  are  conscious  of.  For 
those  who  are  conscious  of  only  misery  and 
pain,  it  is  evil.  He  whose  misfortunes  are 


146  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

due  to  his  principles  and  not  to  his  passions 
is  not  without  consolation.  The  secret  of  wis- 
dom lies  not  in  the  six  and  twenty  letters  of 
the  alphabet.  If  thou  wouldst  learn  it  thou 
must  study  life.  There  is  the  wonderment  of 
children  and  of  the  crowd,  and  there  is  the 
wonder  of  great  and  noble  minds,  which  is  ad- 
miration, reverence,  a\ve,  and  worship.  They 
who  are  distinguished  by  circumstances  alone 
have  no  real  distinction  at  all.  Since  we  do 
not  know  what  life  is,  how  shall  we  know  what 
God  is?  It  is  enough  that  we  know' that  Pie 
is  and  that  He  is  the  highest.  Truth  is  abso- 
lute, so  is  goodness,  so  is  beauty;  but  in  the 
mind  of  man  they  can  never  exist  as  absolute. 
Truth  for  us  is  what  we  know.  What  God 
shall  show  to  us  in  other  worlds  we  can  but 
surmise. 

Higher  knqwledge  and  culture  modify  the 
form  and  intensity  of  our  passions  and  needs, 
but  leave  them  still  with  us.  The  truth  which 
a  man  is  capable  of  grasping  depends  on  what 
he  is.  Wouldst  thou  teach  higher  truth?  — 
strive  to  make  higher  men.  Doers  and  endur- 
ers  are  wise  and  helpful,  but  mere  talkers  are  a 
hindrance  to  their  own  and  others'  progress. 
We  easily  convert  to  our  views  those  who  have 
no  views  or  only  opinions,  but  with  those  who 
have  convictions  we  generally  labor  in  vain; 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  147 

and  when  convictions  are  inseparable  from 
interests  arguments  against  them  are  futile.  To 
overcome  prejudice  serves  no  good  purpose 
unless  we  at  the  same  time  cultivate  love  of 
truth  and  nobleness  of  feeling.  The  habitual 
attitude  of  the  will  toward  the  conscience  is  the 
standard  whereby  character  should  be  judged : 
for  no  one  always  does  well.  There  is  no 
greater  blessedness  than  to  know  and  love  the 
truth  which  the  world  turns  from,  as  though  it 
were  not  worth  a  thought.  Not  by  writing,  but 
by  doing,  not  to  be  written  about,  but  to  be 
wrought  into  life,  was  Christianity  established. 
Simplicity  and  sincerity,  mildness  and  patience, 
sympathy  and  helpfulness,  are  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  truly  religious.  Where  there  is 
clamor,  dispute,  and  controversy,  neither  the 
spirit  of  truth  nor  the  spirit  of  love  will  make  a 
home.  Unity  and  self-possession,  in  thought, 
word,  and  deed,  are  the  mark  of  strength. 
They  constitute  harmony,  beauty,  and  power  of 
life.  True  thoughts  and  noble  sentiments  please 
us  because  truth  and  nobleness  are  our  element 
wherein  it  is  well  with  us.  Love  is  our  realm. 
Where  and  wherein  we  love,  we  are  kings, 
crowned  with  joy  and  gladness.  So  long  as  we 
love,  so  long  see  we  God  in  His  world ;  when 
its  flame  is  quenched  the  universe  is  but  a  char- 
nel  house.  With  love  our  happiness  is  born, 


148  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

with  love  it  dies.  As  a  man's  enemies  help 
him,  if  he  be  a  real  man,  to  become  stronger 
and  wiser,  so  the  foes  of  religion,  of  progress, 
of  science,  and  of  art  should  give  us  higher  and 
juster  views  of  them,  and  enable  us  to  realize 
more  fully  their  truth  and  beauty.  The  truer 
one's  self-knowledge,  the  less  anxious  is  he  to 
appear,  to  play  a  part,  for  he  feels  that  the  im- 
portant thing  for  him  is  to  become  and  be  a 
real  man.  It  is  well  to  live  in  the  past  and 
the  future  only  in  as  much  as  we  draw  them 
both  to  the  present  to  make  it  richer  and  fairer. 
Many  things  happen  which  might  trouble  me, 
but  I  escape  from  them  in  thinking  how  little 
of  the  infinite  possible  evil  does  happen.  The 
thought  that  our  misfortunes  give  pleasure  to 
those  who  do  not  love  us  may  make  them 
harder  to  bear;  but  they  who  find  satisfaction 
in  the  miseries  of  their  fellowmen  are  not  worth 
considering.  The  frivolity  of  our  disputations 
is  manifest  in  the  swiftness  with  which  they  lose 
significance,  so  soon  as  the  wheel  of  time  brings 
up  other  issues  and  passions.  We  grow  hot 
and  breathless  over  trifles,  while  the  divine  in- 
terests of  humanity  leave  us  unmoved. 

Let  those  who  are  able  to  descend  into  the 
depths  of  life  and  thought  bring  up,  not  slime, 
but  pearls.  Let  there  be  light,  is  the  cry  of 
great  souls;  and  they  who  diffuse  the  purest 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  149 

light  are  the  divinest  men.  Whoever  has  left 
authentic  record  of  his  faith  and  hope,  of  his 
yearning  and  love,  of  his  joys  and  sorrows,  of 
his  strivings  and  searchings,  of  his  doubts  and 
struggles,  is  my  benefactor;  to  me  his  memory 
is  sacred ;  I  receive  and  hold  his  book  with 
reverence  and  gratitude.  Leave  each  one  his 
touch  of  folly;  it  helps  to  lighten  life's  burden, 
which,  if  he  could  see  himself  as  he  is,  might 
be  too  heavy  to  bear.  In  becoming  there  is 
more  joy  than  in  being,  as  the  promise  is  richer 
than  the  fulfilment,  the  early  morning  sweeter 
than  the  high  noon.  Think  not  of  what  thou 
art  or  hast,  but  of  thy  infinite  need  of  truth  and 
love.  If  they  who  think  little  of  thce  and  thy 
gifts  are  right,  thou  sufferest  no  loss ;  since 
their  opinions  of  thee  neither  diminish  nor  in- 
crease thy  worth.  They  who  find  fault,  how- 
ever, help  thee  to  know  thyself,  while  they  who 
praise  are  apt  to  blind  and  lead  thee  astray. 
National  vaingloriousness  is  enrooted  in  per- 
sonal vanity.  Hence,  when  we  show  the  base- 
lessness of  some  general  conceit,  we  give  offence 
to  individuals,  who  seem  to  say  to  themselves, 
if  our  nation  is  not  the  greatest  and  most  en- 
lightened, then  we  ourselves  are  not  what  we 
think  we  are.  The  world  wishes  to  be  beguiled 
with  lies,  it  loves  mock  heroes  and  little  great 
men ;  but  plodding  truth,  walking  in  the  foot- 


150  LIFE   AND   EDUCATION, 

steps  of  time,  sweeps  away  all  mere  rubbish.  If 
thou  art  a  true  man,  whether  or  what  posterity 
shall  think  of  thee  will  give  thee  no  concern. 

The  worth  of  praise  is  measured  by  the 
worth  of  those  who  speak  it.  As  a  mere  fa- 
vorite may  wear  the  insignia  with  which  heroes 
are  decorated,  so  ridiculous  or  base  behavior 
may  win  honors,  —  honors  bought  with  dis- 
honor. Let  the  noblest  achievements  of  men 
encourage,  not  dishearten  thee  ;  let  their  crimes 
warn,  not  embolden  thee.  While  I  sit  in  my 
room  beside  the  church,  infants  are  brought 
for  baptism,  the  betrothed  come  for  the  wed- 
ding, and  the  dead  are  borne  to  the  funeral; 
and  birth  and  marriage  and  death  are  so  inter- 
mingled that  they  become  but  a  single  process, 
now  rising  and  now  sinking,  as  life's  wheel 
turns.  The  thought  that  the  one  we  love  must 
die,  accustoms  us  to  death  better  than  medita- 
tion on  our  own  last  end.  In  manhood,  the 
fruit  of  life's  tree  may  be  ripe  and  wholesome, 
but  the  blossoms  have  fallen  and  all  the  garden 
has  become  less  fair  and  fragrant.  A  glory 
has  passed  from  the  earth ;  and  instead  of  the 
infinite  heart  of  hope  which  made  the  youth 
like  a  god,  there  remains  to  the  man  but  the 
fixed  resolve  to  walk  on  in  rough  and  narrow 
ways  to  the  end.  Well  for  him,  if  he  lose  not 
heart 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  151 

When  thou  hast  done  thy  work  thou  hast 
done  all  thou  needest  do.  Let  others  praise 
or  make  use  of  it,  or  in  heedlessness  or 
contempt  pass  it  by.  The  course  of  nature, 
as  it  appears  to  us,  is  blind  and  senseless;  and 
it  is  not  conceivable  that  we  shall  ever  be  able 
to  reconcile  it  with  reason.  Nothing  is  left  us 
but  to  believe  that  God,  in  ways  we  cannot 
imagine,  will  make  all  things  right.  Such  faith 
is  possible,  since  we  are  the  children  of  the 
Eternal,  while  our  troubles  and  miseries  are  of 
a  day.  Good-will,  magnanimity,  and  love  are 
worth  more  than  all  the  gifts  of  fortune. 

Great  thoughts,  clothed  in  fitting  words,  are 
like  a  benediction  from  God.  They  raise  our 
spirit  and  cheer  and  strengthen  us  in  all  our 
ways.  To  the  words  of  genius,  which  are  im- 
mortal, the  printing-press  has  given  a  kind  of 
omnipresence  ;  and  now  they  illumine  and  glad- 
den the  lovers  of  truth  and  beauty  in  all  places, 
—  whereas,  of  old,  though  they  could  not  die, 
they  could  not  live  everywhere.  They  who 
excel  in  athletic  sports  excel  but  for  a  brief 
period ;  but  they  whom  exercise  of  mind  makes 
superior  may  behold,  even  in  old  age,  victory 
wreathe  her  crown  about  their  brows.  To  what 
class  a  true  man  belongs  is  of  little  moment, 
since  a  high  and  genuine  personality  rises  above 
all  classes  into  the  sphere  of  pure  humanity. 


152  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Pray  God  to  deliver  thee  from  the  blindness 
which  hinders  thee  from  seeing  truth  and  good- 
ness in  thy  adversaries.  If  the  mind  languishes 
in  the  prison  of  ignorance  and  prejudice,  the 
whole  man,  whatever  his  social  or  political  en- 
vironment, is  enslaved.  A  free  spirit  is  the  root 
of  liberty.  Help  men  to  become  conscious  of 
their  spiritual  being,  that  they  may  know  God, 
whose  image  is  reflected  from  the  material  uni- 
verse, indeed,  but  only  in  and  for  the  self-con- 
scious soul.  There  are  things  which  are  acci- 
dentally interesting,  and  they  command  attention 
but  for  a  time;  there  are  others  which  touch 
the  substance  of  life,  and  they  have  the  power 
to  entertain  and  delight  wherever  men  think 
and  strive.  If  thou  wouldst  be  strong  and  free, 
let  these  be  the  daily  nourishment  of  thy 
soul.  If  thy  words  and  deeds  give  hope  and 
heart  to  men,  thy  life  will  be  precious  to 
them,  and  they  will  cherish  thy  memory,  as 
wanderers  in  the  desert  think  with  delight 
of  the  sparkling  waters  and  green  fields  of 
fairer  lands. 

The  maxim  of  ascetic  writers  —  not  to  go 
forward  is  to  recede  —  applies  with  special  force 
to  the  mind.  Not  to  learn  is  to  forget,  not  to 
think  is  to  weaken  the  power  of  thinking. 
When  the  multitude  of  writers  lay  hold  of  a 
truth,  however  divine,  it  loses  vital  power;  in 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  153 

passing  through  vulgar  minds  it  seems  to  be- 
come like  them.  Be  not  provoked  by  what 
shocks  and  rouses  thee  from  mental  somno- 
lence, but  awaken  thy  mind  and  exercise  it, 
that  nothing  may  have  power  to  disturb  thee. 
Only  a  growing  soul  is  pleasing  to  God.  Ifthou 
hast  not  the  heavenly  gift,  be  thankful  that  thou 
art  able  to  recognize  it  in  others.  "  Instead 
of  finding  fault  with  Schiller  and  myself,"  said 
Goethe,  "  our  contemporaries  should  be  glad  to 
have  two  such  fellows  as  we."  It  takes  a  true 
man  to  write  a  genuine  book,  and  the  best  in  it 
is  his  own  life,  interfusing  itself  with  all  things, 
and  drawing  from  them  nourishment  and  the 
power  to  recreate  them.  Men  of  genius  make 
knowledge  easy,  but  they  do  harm  if  they  lead 
us  to  imagine  that  we  may  acquire  it  without 
the  persistent  effort  by  which  alone  the  mind 
is  made  capable  of  knowledge.  The  stamp 
which  genius  sets  on  its  noblest  work  is  that  it 
serves  no  useful  purpose.  It  grinds  no  corn  to 
nourish  a  perishable  existence,  but  it  lifts  the 
soul  to  realms  of  immortal  life.  What  we  live 
by  we  rarely  live  for.  When  there  is  question 
of  the  things  which  provide  us  with  the  means 
of  living  we  quickly  cease  to  be  believers  and 
lovers,  to  become  partisans.  He  who  lives  not 
for  himself,  not  for  money  or  fame  or  the  good 
opinion  of  others,  but  for  truth,  freedom,  and 


154  LIFE   AND  EDUCATION. 

justice  is  great  whether  he  accomplish  much  or 
nothing. 

We  visit  gladly  the  places  where  man  or 
nature  produces  what  is  excellent,  or  if  we  can- 
not visit  the  places  we  seek  in  some  way  to  get 
possession  of  what  is  brought  forth;  but  the 
noblest  feel  most  keenly  the  need  of  the  best 
that  man  has  done.  They  crave  for  Homer's 
song  more  than  for  the  wine  of  Chios.  We  are 
infinitely  needy,  and  if  we  cannot  be  made  to 
feel  the  need  of  truth  and  love,  let  us  be  thank- 
ful that  we  feel  the  need  of  better  food,  and 
clothing,  and  houses ;  for  this  will  save  us  from 
a  merely  animal  existence.  If  the  work  thou 
art  able  to  do  is  mechanical,  it  may  be  provided 
for  thee ;  but  if  it  is  spiritual,  and  is  to  have 
genuine  worth,  thou  must  find  it  for  thyself. 
Let  him  who  performs  what  is  great  or  holy, 
be  clean  in  body  as  in  soul  —  the  hero  when 
he  offers  battle,  the  orator  when  he  faces  his 
audience,  the  priest  when  he  ascends  the  altar. 

He  who  teaches  me  new  truth  acquaints  me 
with  myself,  by  revealing  a  phase  of  my  life, 
which  was  unknown  to  me.  The  best  —  strength 
of  mind,  purity  of  heart,  and  power  of  imag- 
ination —  must  be  sought  for  itself  simply 
because  it  is  the  best.  The  common  man  is  pre- 
occupied with  thoughts  of  the  means  of  living, 
and  he  imagines  that  he  has  no  time  to  think  of 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  155 

living.     His  mind,  like  his  hands,  or  the  soil  he 
cultivates,   is  valuable    to    him   merely  for  the 
practical  uses  to  which  it  may  be  put.     He  who 
knows  that  he  has  divine  gifts  does  not  com- 
plain of  lack  of  appreciation.      He  is  lifted  to 
worlds  where  the  multitude  is  powerless,  whether 
for   praise   or   blame.       If    the    praise    of    thy 
contemporaries   give  thee    little  pleasure,    why 
shouldst  thou  be  glad  to  be  able  to  believe  that 
a  few  hundred  years  hence,  men  will  speak  well 
of  thee?     Because  thou  feelest  that  the  worth, 
which  time  does  not  destroy,  is  alone  genuine. 
Great  minds  and  heroic  hearts  conquer  even  in 
dying.     Their  spirit  survives,  and  in  the  breasts 
of  others   wins   victories.      Much   of    what   is 
spoken  and  written  to  stimulate  the  ambition 
and  industry  of  our  youth  is  false  and  hurtful. 
The  burden  of  it  all  is  that  by  labor,  thrift,  and 
honesty,  they  may  get  to  be  presidents,  senators, 
millionnaires,  widely  known  lawyers,  physicians, 
and  merchants.     Their  attention  is  directed  to 
what  is  external,  to   what  the    unworthy  may 
attain  as  well  as  the  worthy,  or  to  what  very  few 
can  hope  to  reach,  while  the  infinite  wealth  and 
blessedness  of  the  inner  world  of  thought  and 
love  is  ignored  or  considered  as  a  means,  not 
an  end.      Thus,  the  tendency  of  the  young  to 
take  delight  in  noise  and  display,  the  tendency 
of  our  national  life  to  lay  stress  chiefly  upon 


I $6  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

material  progress  and  vulgar  success,  is  fostered 
and  intensified ;  the  superstition  that  what  a 
man  possesses  constitutes  his  worth  and  happi- 
ness is  encouraged  and  sunk  more  deeply  in  the 
soul.  It  is  a  shallow  philosophy  which  con- 
fuses popularity  and  riches  with  wisdom  and 
virtue,  one  which  will  never  form  noble  minds 
and  characters.  Happy  is  he  whom  neither  the 
heat  of  youth  nor  the  love  of  company,  nor 
domestic  cares  nor  a  multiplicity  of  business,  can 
wean  from  that  inner  world  where  man  lives 
with  high  thoughts  and  images  of  divine  beauty. 
The  consciousness  of  possessing  a  power  within 
ourselves  which  we  feel  to  be  good  and  pleasure- 
giving,  and  which  struggles  to  realize  itself  in 
thoughts  and  deeds,  is  for  each  one  the  impulse 
to  action  and  the  source  of  achievement.  Never 
dissatisfied,  forever  unsatisfied.  The  occasion 
shows  the  great  man,  because  he  brings  to  it  the 
power  of  his  whole  past,  alive  with  all  he  has 
believed  and  hoped,  thought  and  done. 

That  which  impedes,  furthers  the  progress  of 
the  active  and  resolute,  as  water  the  fish's,  air 
the  bird's.  The  earth  which  draws  us  down- 
ward prevents  us  from  falling  as  we  walk.  Our 
foes  are  our  helpers :  the  passions  which  lead 
astray,  impel,  if  rightly  controlled,  to  heroic 
effort.  There  is  not  in  this  world  anything  so 
precious  that  to  possess  it  a  wise  man  will 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  157 

abandon  the  life  of  thought,  or  sacrifice  peace 
and  serenity  of  soul.  If  a  fruit-tree  should 
throw  all  its  vitality  into  its  roots,  content  with 
earth  and  the  company  of  slimy  things,  and 
should  never  break  into  bud  and  flower  and 
bear  rich  nourishment,  it  would  be  a  proper 
image  of  the  man  whose  thoughts  and  desires 
are  given  over  to  what  is  material  and  sensual. 
The  wise  and  the  virtuous  shed  blessings ;  their 
very  presence  illumines  and  purifies.  To  know 
is  a  certain  good,  to  be  known,  a  doubtful  one. 
Live  with  thyself  and  thou  shalt  be  at  home, 
wherever  thou  art.  "  If  thou  wilt  receive  profit/' 
says  A'Kempis,  "  read  with  humility,  simplicity, 
and  faith ;  and  seek  not  at  any  time  the  fame  of 
being  learned."  To  be  fruitful,  knowledge  must 
mature  amid  storm  and  trial,  striking  its  roots 
still  deeper  into  the  soul.  What  a  man  knows 
and  experiences  is  himself,  and  if  we  would  help 
him  we  must  enable  him  to  know  and  experi- 
ence himself  in  a  truer  and  nobler  way,  that 
becoming  other  he  may  feel  himself  a  new  man. 
No  argument  is  needed  to  show  the  falseness  of 
apothegms  which  weaken  faith  in  the  wisdom  of 
virtue  or  in  the  worth  of  honest  striving. 

A  wise  man  can  suffer  much,  can  suffer  even 
to  the  end  of  life,  with  cheerfulness,  if  he  but 
feel  he  is  growing  in  strength  of  mind  and  heart. 
Far  from  believing  that  a  single  pain  outweighs 


158  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

a  hundred  pleasures,  he  comes  to  feel  that  joy 
is  born  of  pain ;  and  he  welcomes  the  pain 
for  the  wisdom  it  teaches;  for  wisdom  is  joy. 
Virtue  is  a  thing  in  good  earnest;  in  all  else 
there  is  something  frivolous  and  unreal.  As 
the  ring  of  the'  coin  tells  whether  it  is  genuine, 
so  a  man's  speech  discovers  his  character. 
Great  souls  suffer  in  silence,  for  they  know  that 
deeds,  not  words,  attest  and  vindicate  worth. 
The  best  is  a  quiet  and  a  busy  life  —  still,  but 
stirring,  like  the  stars  which  seem  at  rest,  but 
are  forever  moving.  Sunlight  ripens  fruit,  not 
by  falling  on  it  once,  but  by  lingering  over  it 
day  by  day,  week  after  week.  So  truth  matures 
the  mind,  not  with  a  single  touch,  but  by  abid- 
ing with  it  through  long  years. 

There  is  no  surer  means  of  attaining  higher 
knowledge  than  to  keep  alive  within  ourselves 
that  which  we  already  possess.  Rules  are  lead- 
ing-strings for  those  whose  mind's  eye  is  closed. 
Let  them  but  open  it,  and  they  will  see  the  truth 
alive  which  in  the  rule  is  dead. 

If  the  time  spent  in  trying  to  discover  and 
reveal  the  errors  of  others  were  employed  in 
learning  to  know  and  correct  our  own,  the 
world  would  be  reformed.  He  is  great  whose 
ideas  the  best  minds  receive  and  make  their 
own.  The  best  know  there  is  nothing  so  pre- 
cious as  truth,  nothing  so  fair  as  beauty,  nothing 


THOUGHTS  AND   THEORIES.  159 

so  good  as  love:  and  if  thou  teachest  higher 
truth,  revealest  diviner  beauty,  and  makest  purer 
love  prevail,  they  will  be  thy  friends,  and  thy 
life  will  diffuse  itself  through  the  lives  of  the 
noble  from  age  to  age. 

The  man  of  culture  is  wholly  free  from  pre- 
tence ;  pretends  neither  to  know  nor  believe, 
nor  feel  nor  admire  nor  love;  but  in  all  these 
things  he  goes  farther  than  his  words  would 
lead  us  to  think.  Life  is  the  highest  we  know, 
and  our  aim  therefore  should  be  to  attain  the 
highest  kind  of  life,  which  is  at  once  knowledge, 
power,  goodness,  beauty,  and  love.  "  The  earlier 
we  indulge  in  thought  and  reflection,"  says 
Landor,  "  the  longer  do  they  last,  and  the  more 
faithfully  do  they  serve  us.  So  far  are  they 
from  shortening  or  debilitating  our  animal  life, 
that  they  prolong  and  strengthen  it  greatly." 
Turn  from  what  is  hideous  or  revolting,  whether 
in  nature  or  in  history,  lest  thy  view  of  God's 
presence  in  the  world  be  dimmed.  One  of  the 
evils  of  the  newspaper  habit  is  that  it  holds  the 
attention  to  what  is  vulgar  or  criminal.  My 
own  words  and  deeds  may  injure  me :  another's 
cannot. 

We  show  gratitude  to  the  dead  by  striving  in 
their  spirit  to  further  their  aims  and  to  complete 
what  they  began  but  left  unfinished.  What 
happens  within  ourselves,  not  what  takes  place 


160  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

around  us,  forms  our  character  and  constitutes 
our  worth.  Our  thoughts  flow  in  the  channels 
which  our  habits  have  fashioned,  and  we  appre- 
ciate the  qualities  with  which  we  are  familiar, 
like  the  butcher,  who  when  he  needed  a  lawyer 
or  a  doctor,  chose  the  fattest  he  could  find.  A 
man  of  learning  without  philosophy  is,  accord- 
ing to  Kant,  but  a  mathematical,  historical, 
philological,  geographical,  or  astronomical  cy- 
clops.  He  lacks  an  eye. 

There  are  those  who  hold  that  it  would  be 
wrong  to  lie  even  to  save  the  race  from  destruc- 
tion, and  who  nevertheless  heap  up  falsehoods 
to  help  a  party  to  paltry  victories.  He  who 
has  a  world  view  and  the  habit  of  thought, 
easily  brings  whatever  he  sees  or  hears  or  reads 
into  harmony  with  the  principles  which  under- 
lie his  conscious  life.  His  mind  revolves  in 
obedience  to  higher  laws  around  a  fixed  centre. 
To  be  more  fearful  of  falling  into  error  than 
eager  to  discover  and  proclaim  truth  is  to  have 
no  influence.  The  world  of  thinkers  loses  sight 
of  such  an  one,  and  moves  on  along  winding 
ways  to  new  knowledge  and  larger  conquests. 
The  error  which  we  hold  inquiringly,  striving 
to  find  what  element  of  fact  there  be  in  it,  is 
worth  more  to  us  than  the  truth  which  we 
accept  mechanically  and  retain  with  indiffer- 
ence. Think  for  thyself,  for  in  this  way  alone 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  \6l 

is  it  possible  for  thee  to  have  any  real  thought 
at  all. 

As  the  blind  can  have  no  proper  notion  of 
darkness,  since  they  can  have  none  of  light, 
which  is  its  correlative,  so  the  ignorant  cannot 
be  made  aware  of  their  ignorance.  To  know 
a  thing  we  must  know  its  opposite.  The  only 
effective  refutation  of  error  is  the  making  truth 
plain.  Everything  else  is  mistaken  zeal  or 
love  of  contention.  He  alone  is  a  critic  who 
takes  the  point  of  view  of  the  author  whom 
he  appreciates,  and  resurveying  the  field  tells 
us  where  he  has  succeeded  and  where  he  has 
failed.  The  wise  and  the  foolish  may  speak  the 
same  things,  but  they  are  not  the  same,  for  the 
character  of  the  speaker  lends  weight  and  mean- 
ing to  his  words.  Nothing  can  atone  for  the  lack 
of  intellectual  seriousness ;  where  this  is  wanting, 
other  gifts  are  vain.  If  thou  hast  a  real  mind, 
thou  understandest  that  the  applause  of  a  world 
could  not  satisfy  thee,  nor  its  reprobation  de- 
stroy thy  confidence  in  thy  own  thoughts.  If 
thou  livest  not  by  the  work  of  thy  hands,  be  a 
helper  of  those  by  the  work  of  whose  hands 
thou  livest.  Rouse  not  the  anger  of  a  multi- 
tude, though  it  be  but  a  nest  of  wasps.  The 
best  speech  is  a  form  of  action,  and  as  good 
deeds  bear  repetition,  so  do  true  words. 

The  art  of  living  lies  largely  in  knowing  how 


1 62  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

to  employ  one's  leisure,  the  use  it  is  put  to 
being  the  test  of  one's  worth  and  culture.  Art, 
as  well  as  philosophy  and  poetry,  is  the  fruit 
of  leisure  nobly  employed.  With  the  same 
materials  we  may  build  a  home  or  a  prison; 
and  by  the  use  of  the  same  faculties  we  may 
make  ourselves  godlike  or  animal. 

I  slept,  and  dreamed  that  life  is  beauty : 
I  awoke,  and  saw  that  it  is  duty. 

Truths  which  we  cease  to  meditate  quickly 
lose  vital  meaning  for  us.  Be  not  ashamed  to 
borrow  truth,  for  the  borrowing  enriches  thee> 
nor  makes  the  lender  poor.  Thou  canst  not 
change  the  order  of  nature,  but  faith  and  love 
will  illumine  thy  mind  and  change  thy  heart. 
If  thy  acquaintance  with  men  is  large,  thou 
knowest  some  who  are  wicked  and  perverse  or 
miserly  and  mean.  Take  heed  lest  thou  use 
harsh  words  in  speaking  of  them;  for  bitter 
speech  will  make  thee  bitter,  and  sweeping  con- 
demnation of  the  worst  offenders  even  springs 
from  partial  and  narrow  views.  Be  busy  mak- 
ing right  what  is  wrong  in  thy  own  life,  and 
thou  shalt  learn  to  look  with  more  kindly  eyes 
upon  thy  fellows ;  for  the  evil  in  others  irritates 
and  annoys  us,  because  we  ourselves  are  weak 
and  unloving. 

Gentlemen  are  rarer  than  ladies,  because  it 


THOUGHTS  AND    THEORIES.  163 

takes  more  to  make  a  gentleman  than  to  make 
a  lady.  The  nobler  and  purer  passions  are  the 
most  enduring  and  the  most  pleasure-giving. 
They  who  study  molecules  and  microbes  find 
that  they  may  study  them  forever;  and  they 
who  enter  the  world  of  thought  discover  that  it  is 
infinitely  rich  and  full.  If  the  virtuous  but  knew 
how  to  make  themselves  amiable  they  would 
conquer  the  world.  A  prudent  man  acts  with- 
out talking  about  what  he  intends  to  do,  never 
threatens,  and  never  wounds  the  self-esteem  of 
any  one,  least  of  all  that  of  his  inferiors.  Those 
who  appear  to  be  the  servants  of  truth  are  often, 
like  other  men,  merely  the  slaves  of  their  vani- 
ties and  ambitions.  If  we  feel  that  ignorance  is 
our  enemy,  we  shall  easily  learn  how  to  over- 
come it.  It  is  easy  to  find  writings  in  which 
there  is  sequence  and  continuity,  but  detached 
thoughts,  where  there  is  both  form  and  sub- 
stance, are  rare,  and  are  for  many  a  more  help- 
ful tonic  than  the  even  sweep  of  balanced  and 
harmonious  periods.  Who  scatter  thoughts  sow 
the  seed  of  harvests,  which  others  shall  reap. 
Everything  has  been  said,  Labruyere  tells  us; 
and  then  proceeds  to  write  a  book,  as  though  all 
were  still  to  say.  It  is  delightful  to  feel  that 
one  is  wide  awake  and  intelligent.  A  little  self- 
consciousness  here  is  not  offensive.  We  all 
approve  the  pleasure  which  a  talker  or  a  writer 


1 64  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

takes  in  giving  pleasure  to  others.  Give  men 
time  to  recover  from  their  faults,  as  the  green 
fruit  needs  time  to  grow  ripe.  The  words  of 
disputants  are  like  fog-horns  which  deafen  and 
make  us  more  conscious  of  the  obscurity  by 
which  we  are  surrounded.  Talent  without  will, 
the  spur  to  tireless  effort,  avails  little.  In  the 
young  it  is  but  a  promise  ;  and  if  it  develops 
it  is  impossible  to  know  whether  it  will  lead  to 
honor  or  infamy.  A  boy  of  talent  is  like  a  colt 
of  promise.  There  is  hope  that  he  shall  win  the 
prizes,  but  many  accidents  lie  in  the  way ;  and 
more  in  the  way  of  the  boy  than  in  that  of  the 
colt.  There  is  perhaps  worth  in  what  thou  dost ; 
but  if  it  is  unrecognized,  console  thyself  by  call- 
ing to  mind  the  ages  during  which  men  saw  the 
kettle  boil  and  the  lightning  flash  without  learn- 
ing the  worth  there  is  in  steam  and  electricity. 
Writing,  not  printing,  is  the  noblest  invention. 
The  press  is  but  a  developed  pen. 


CHAPTER  V. 

BOOKS. 

Seek'st  thou  for  bliss? 
Lo !  here  it  is  — 
In  quiet  nook, 
With  well  loved  book. 

BOOKS  are  a  world  —  they  interest  and 
amuse  us;  they  speak  to  the  mind  and 
the  heart ;  they  divert  from  care  and  sorrow ; 
they  awaken  the  fancy  and  set  the  imagination 
afire.  They  take  us  round  the  globe,  travel  with 
us  through  every  land,  ready  at  a  sign  to  re- 
count the  rise  and  fall  of  nations;  they  linger 
with  us  in  quiet  vales  to  tell  the  stories  of  happy 
lovers  or  to  rechant  the  songs  of  poets.  In  the 
agora  or  the  forum  they  crave  our  silence  while 
Demosthenes  hurls  his  fierce  invective  or  Cicero 
marshals  the  stately  phrases  of  his  lofty  dis- 
course. They  transform  ruins  and  make  them 
loom  before  us  in  all  their  early  splendor;  from 
battlefields  where  waves  the  ripening  grain,  they 
evoke  contending  armies  with  all  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war.  They  bring  to  us,  while 


1 66  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

we  sit  in  our  easy  chair,  before  our  own  hearth- 
fire,  the  men  and  women  who  have  served 
and  ennobled  mankind,  —  those  who  have 
made  history,  founded  religions,  framed  laws, 
upbuilt  states,  created  arts  and  sciences,  taught 
philosophies,  withstood  tyrants,  and  endured 
infinitely. 

They  are  many  worlds  —  they  take  us  back 
to  the  paradisal  home ;  they  lead  us  to  the 
promised  land.  At  their  bidding  blind  Homer 
grasps  his  harp  and  the  Grecian  hosts  assemble 
on  the  windy  plains  of  Troy.  The  unyoked 
steeds  champ  the  golden  grain  beneath  the  star- 
lit heavens.  Hector  falls  before  Achilles,  and 
Priam  kisses  the  hand  which  slew  his  son,  mak- 
ing us  feel  that  thousands  of  years  ago,  as  now, 
love  was  more  divine  than  strength,  pity  more 
godlike  than  power.  To  whatever  spot  on 
earth  is  memorable,  books  will  take  us.  To 
whoever  is  in  any  way  capable  of  human  life, 
they  bring  refreshment  and  joy.  In  the  endless 
variety  of  races  and  individuals,  of  tastes  and 
opinions,  they  have  wherewith  to  satisfy  all.  Is 
there  a  world  to  which  poets  do  not  offer  them- 
selves as  guides?  They  dip  their  pens  in  the 
colors  of  the  dawn  and  the  twilight.  The  young 
hear  them  chant  the  praises  of  immortal  love ; 
the  strong,  the  all-subduing  power  of  will ;  the 
old,  the  peace  of  restful  death.  They  take  our 


BOOKS.  167 

every  mood;  they  laugh,  they  weep,  they 
mock;  and  suddenly  they  are  afire  with  the 
courage  of  heroes,  or  are  rapt  in  ecstasy  with 
saints  and  martyrs.  They  are  the  trumpeters 
of  patriots  who  battle  for  their  country,  and  to 
nursing  mothers  they  sing  low  lullabies. 

In  the  presence  of  the  tragedies  which  try 
great  souls,  they  take  us  by  the  hand  to  show 
us  that  the  innocent  can  suffer  no  wrong,  and 
that  a  brave  and  loving  heart  is  superior  to 
whatever  fate  or  senseless  nature  may  inflict. 
They  humanize  all  common  things,  entwining 
their  tender  thoughts  about  broken  toys  and 
vacant  chairs  and  locks  of  faded  hair.  The 
bucket  that  hangs  in  the  well,  the  deserted 
house,  with  its  door  ajar,  the  path  choked  with 
weeds,  whisper  to  them  of  joys  and  sorrows,  of 
effort  and  failure,  of  life  and  death.  Whatever 
hope  or  despair,  faith  or  doubt,  love  or  hate, 
ecstasy  or  agony,  has  touched  a  mortal,  lies  in 
books,  immortal.  All  that  men  have  planned 
and  done,  all  that  they  have  dared  and  borne,  — 
their  dreams  and  errors,  their  gropings  and 
wanderings,  their  searchings  for  what  others 
have  found  after  they  themselves  had  crumbled 
to  dust,  the  miserable  outcome  of  mighty  un- 
dertakings, the  vast  results  of  insignificant  be- 
ginnings, the  rise  of  obscure  tribes  to  world 
power,  the  sinking  of  great  nations  into  nothing- 


1 68  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

ness,  —  all  this  lies  in  books.     They  are  for  every 
age,  for  every  type,  for  every  mood. 

On  this  wintry  night  I  see  a  million  glowing 
hearth-fires.  Around  gentle  mothers  are  gath- 
ered the  sweet  faces  of  pure  children,  rising  head 
above  head  like  the  steps  of  winding  stairs ;  and 
in  the  vision  I  behold  books  open,  while  fresh 
and  all-believing  souls  look  out  through  gray 
and  blue  and  brown  eyes  upon  them.  These 
are  magicians  who  show  things  incredible.  Here 
are  the  thousand  tales  of  wonder,  —  Aladdin 
with  his  lamp,  Fortunatus  with  his  wishing  cap, 
Queen  Mab  and  her  fairy  world,  and  Mother 
Goose,  best  of  all.  Here  are  stories  of  wander- 
ings afar,  of  adventures  on  sea  and  land,  of  the 
discovery  of  new  worlds,  of  shipwreck  on  un- 
known islands.  Here  are  songs  and  melodies 
which  mothers  sang  to  their  children  a  thousand 
years  ago ;  legends  which  for  young  hearts 
never  grow  old,  of  King  Arthur  and  his  knights, 
of  Robin  Hood  and  his  good  men,  of  Bruce  and 
Wallace  and  William  Tell.  To  think  of  it  all  is 
to  be  a  child  again.  The  long  procession  of 
the  years  vanishes ;  the  toil  and  the  trouble,  the 
sin  and  the  sorrow,  the  promise  and  the  perjury, 
are  no  more.  The  world  is  fresh  as  on  the 
primal  day.  Whatever  the  seasons  bring  is 
newly  dropt  from  the  hand  of  God.  Death  is 
but  a  dream,  and  life  is  all.  We  are  alive,  and  so 


BOOKS.  169 

are  our  fathers  and  mothers,  our  brothers  and 
sisters ;  the  whole  world  is  alive,  the  brooks  and 
the  birds,  the  gardens  and  the  fields,  and  the 
days  are  long,  and  filled  with  light.  We  drink 
the  perfume,  we  bask  in  the  sunshine,  and  are 
at  one  with  lambs  and  colts  and  sucking  pigs. 
We  dance  with  the  waving  corn ;  with  leaves 
we  whisper  foolish  things  to  the  mysterious 
air. 

If  some  morning  we  awake  and  find  the  hills 
hoar  with  frost,  what  is  it  but  a  new  kind  of  life? 
Our  young  hearts  leap  forth  to  the  flocking 
snowflakes  as  gleefully  as  to  spring  showers; 
and  when  we  see  the  wide  white  cloth  spread 
we  know  it  is  for  a  feast.  We  hear  sleighbells 
jingle,  we  see  laughing  eyes  gleaming  from  close- 
drawn  hoods,  we  listen  to  the  crackling  fire,  we 
watch  the  roasting  apples,  the  popping  corn ; 
the  cider  is  amber  in  the  glass,  the  nuts  are 
cracked,  and  kings  and  millionnaires  are  melan- 
choly fools  compared  with  us.  Are  not  the 
stars  gleaming  in  the  crisp  air?  Is  not  the 
crystal  ice  glistening  on  streams  fallen  asleep? 
And  what  is  that  uplighting  all  the  east,  but 
the  moon,  pushing  away  the  darkness  that  she 
may  look  upon  our  glee?  On  the  polished  steel 
we  glide,  curving  as  bends  the  river,  and  the 
silent  hills  are  glad,  re-echoing  our  merry  shout 
and  laugh ;  the  naked  boughs  catch  the  thrill 


170  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

of  life,  and  dream  of  spring,  —  of  leaves  and 
flowers  and  songs  of  birds,  of  sweet  girls  and 
smiling  babes,  in  whose  eyes  the  azure  skies 
are  mirrored.  Ah !  welladay,  all  this  was,  but 
is  no  more.  Thievish  time  has  stolen  our  world, 
and  v/here  shall  we  find  it  again  but  in  memory 
made  quick  by  the  noble  spirits  who  speak  to 
us  from  books,  happy  that  souls  are  still  alive 
who  are  able  to  partake  their  joys? 

When  we  move  upward  and  the  breath  of 
life  becomes  more  intense,  when  the  bud  of 
youth  and  maidenhood  is  become  a  full-blown 
flower,  and  we  feel  the  throb  of  universal  life, 
the  stirring  within  ourselves  of  the  universal 
power  which  clothes  all  things  with  strength 
and  beauty,  when  we  long  for  the  desert  as  a 
dwelling-place,  with  one  fair  spirit  for  a  minister, 
where  shall  we  find  nourishment  for  the  blissful 
mood,  if  not  in  books?  In  them  all  divine 
lovers  become  our  companions.  They  linger 
with  us  to  speak  of  immortal  ecstasies,  as  they 
who  love,  love  to  talk  of  their  love.  Where 
shall  we  begin?  In  paradise,  with  the  hymn  of 
the  first  man  smitten  by  the  charm  of  woman's 
beauty?  Or  shall  we  pause  to  watch  the  con- 
flict of  Europe  with  Asia,  sung  by  Homer,  and 
all  because  of  love?  Or  shall  we  hear  Vergil 
sing  how  Love  threw  himself  in  vain  athwart 
the  way  wherein  moved  the  destiny  of  Rome? 


BOOKS.  I/I 

Ah !  well,  the  god  was  avenged,  when  the  Power 
which  denied  love,  having  overcome  the  world, 
sank  in  the  mire  of  mere  animalism  and  was 
trampled  by  avenging  hordes.  Rather  let  us 
take  no  thought  where  we  alight  in  the  fair 
kingdom  of  fresh  and  tender  hearts,  for  wherever 
we  set  foot  books  will  welcome  us  and  be  our 
guides.  Though  we  follow  Dante  to  hell,  the 
voice  of  Francesca  shall  make  us  dream  it  is 
Paradise.  Shall  we  sit  with  Jessica  on  the 
violet-clad  and  moonlit  bank  and  listen  to  the 
music  in  our  hearts,  or  shall  we  lend  ear  to 
Juliet  while  she  upbraids  the  hasty  and  officious 
dawn,  that  comes  to  drive  from  her  the  light  and 
life  that  lie  in  Romeo's  eyes? 

Lo  !  it  is  St.  Agnes'  eve  —  the  owl  for  all 
his  feathers  is  a-cold,  the  hare  limps  trembling 
through  the  frozen  grass,  and  suddenly  upon  our 
ears  bursts  the  argent  revelry,  and  we  behold 
fair  Madeline  and  Porphyro,  who  long  ages  ago 
fled  away  into  the  storm  and  were  rich  and  rich 
enough  with  only  love !  Or  shall  we  turn  aside 
to  weep  with  Isabella  over  her  basil  pot?  For 
hearts  aflame  with  love,  books  are  full  of  tales 
of  love.  Like  bees  in  clover  fields  they  may 
light  anywhere  and  sip  nectar.  Alas !  we  may 
there  also  see  the  men  who  might  have  towered 
in  the  van  of  all  the  world,  let  occasion  die 
while  they  did  sleep  in  Love's  Elysium.  But 


1/2  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

for  the  young,  in  whom  life's  pulse  most  deeply 
throbs,  love  is  but  an  episode.  They  dwell  with 
thoughts  and  hopes  which  are  athrill  with  heroic 
daring  and  endurance.  They  are  straitened  in 
the  world  and  lack  breathing  room.  They 
would  discover  new  lands,  build  states,  strike 
tyrants  down,  break  the  chains  of  slaves,  lead 
captives  into  promised  lands,  and  stand  in  the 
front  of  peoples,  like  saviors,  to  deliver  them 
from  ignorance  and  sensuality.  What  a  world 
of  noble  books  there  is  for  them,  from  that 
which  tells  of  Abraham,  who  went  forth  from 
his  own,  leaving  that  which  had  intertwined 
itself  with  the  tenderest  fibres  of  his  heart,  that 
he  might  found  a  new  race  and  build  a  kingdom 
of  God,  to  that  in  which  we  behold  Lincoln, 
much  enduring  and  much  hoping  man,  trusting 
in  God  and  in  right-loving  and  right-discerning 
souls,  until  he  saw  his  country  emerge  from  the 
sea  of  blood,  undivided  though  sorrow-crowned, 
to  resume  her  divinely  appointed  mission  to 
spread  freedom  and  good-will  among  all  peoples. 
But  we  may  choose  from  any  age  or  land,  for, 
thanks  to  the  heart  which  makes  us  men,  those 
who  greatly  dare  and  do  and  suffer,  have  never 
anywhere  been  lacking. 

There  is  Plutarch,  name  worthy  of  homage, 
who  makes  it  possible  for  us  to  live  with  the 
founders  of  states,  the  warriors,  orators,  and 


BOOKS.  173 

poets,  the  men  of  power  and  genius,  who  were 
Greece  and  Rome.  What  is  history  but  the 
biographies  of  great  men,  of  those  whom  cour- 
age, faith,  and  industry  have  made  leaders  of  the 
people  and  doers  of  memorable  things?  The 
value  of  such  books  lies  largely  in  the  enthu- 
siasm which  they  inspire.  They  who  loved  jus- 
tice and  freedom,  who  for  their  love  suffered 
exile,  ignominy,  and  death,  rise  before  us  as  we 
read  their  story,  to  bid  us  look  away  from  pres- 
ent and  apparent  success,  to  the  world  of  endur- 
ing things,  where  the  wise  and  true,  whether  in 
life  they  wandered  homeless  and  friendless  or 
suffered  the  punishment  of  criminals,  have 
ascended  to  the  worth  and  power  which  cannot 
pass  away. 

For  those  who  know  how  to  read,  history 
teaches  as  nothing  else  can,  that  a  human  soul, 
centred,  in  truth  and  right,  is  invincible,  acts 
with  the  power  of  God,  and  like  Him,  prevails. 
But  to  youthful  minds  its  pages  do  not  make 
this  lesson  plain.  They  are  drawn  to  deeds  of 
prowess,  to  the  flash  of  the  orator's  thought  and 
the  thunder  of  his  voice,  to  the  poet's  song  of 
glory  and  triumph,  to  the  power  of  the  law-giver 
and  the  thinker  which  tames  savages,  and  brings 
reason  and  conscience  to  play  upon  the  affairs 
of  men.  They  read  with  the  heart  and  the 
imagination;  they  do  not  yet  understand  what 


1/4  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

labor  it  costs  to  learn  how  to  read  as  great 
minds  read.  They  are  hungry  for  sensation. 
They  look  eagerly  on  the  panorama  of  nature  as 
it  unfolds  itself  in  books,  more  intelligibly  and 
more  enchantingly  than  to  the  senses,  for  they, 
like  all  the  heedless,  have  eyes  and  see  not,  ears 
and  hear  not.  They  look  on  the  starlit  heavens 
and  think  it  a  common  sight ;  for  them  the  stars 
are  but  pimples  on  the  face  of  the  sky;  but 
with  books  as  their  guides  they  learn  to  find 
themselves  at  home  in  interstellar  spaces,  and 
perceive  that  the  earth  is  but  a  minor  rock,  a 
mere  spall,  lost  amid  countless  solar  systems. 
Caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  senses,  they  think 
the  little  circle  in  which  they  move,  in  city  or  in 
village  or  amid  the  fields,  a  world,  as  it  is, 
indeed,  their  world;  but  when  they  come  to 
see  themselves  in  books  as  in  mirrors,  they  see 
how  less  than  nothing  is  the  baby  world  in 
which  they  have  been  living,  —  a  mere  fool's 
paradise.  Their  knowledge,  their  thoughts  and 
deeds,  have  seemed  to  them  to  be  of  weight,  to 
possess  a  power  which  is  unrecognized ;  but 
when  they  have  gone  deeper  into  books,  what 
they  know  becomes  ignorance  and  what  they 
do  sheer  vanity.  Thus  young  readers,  if  they 
are  destined  to  make  themselves  a  home  in  the 
world  of  books,  are  taught  first  of  all  the  wisdom 
of  modesty.  If  they  cannot  learn  this,  the  use 


BOOKS.  175 

and  worth  of  books  must  remain  hidden  from 
them.  So  long  as  we  live  in  the  realm  of  mere 
happenings,  real  or  imaginary,  we  live  on  the 
surface  of  things,  and  are  still  controlled  by  the 
instincts  of  barbarians.  We  are  spectators  who 
are  fascinated  by  the  glitter,  and  movement  of 
life,  like  children  who  take  delight  in  foolish 
games  or  are  carried  beyond  themselves  by  the 
sight  of  what  is  strange.  A  toy  is  more  in- 
teresting than  a  thought  to  those  who  are 
incapable  of  thought. 

In  the  plays  of  the  great  dramatists,  it  is  the 
story  and  not  the  poetry  which  gives  pleasure. 
The  perfect  phrase,  the  utterance  of  deep  wis- 
dom, retards  the  action,  which  alone  interests 
the  multitude  of  spectators.  Hence  the  noblest 
plays  are  rarely  put  on  the  stage,  and  as  rarely 
read.  Profound  writers  have  few  readers.  It  is 
not  possible  that  they  should  interest  those  who 
live  amid  the  shows  of  things  and  are  more 
eager  to  listen  to  gossip  than  to  words  of  wis- 
dom. In  books  as  in  all  things  we  seek  our- 
selves. Narcissus-like  we  see  in  the  stream  of 
matter  but  the  reflection  of  our  own  counte- 
nance, and  when  we  look  up  to  the  eternal  and 
infinite  we  still  see  our  own  image.  In  our 
money,  our  country,  our  friends,  we  love  our- 
selves. In  her  child  the  mother  finds  the  symbol 
of  her  virginal  love,  which  made  the  world  a 


1/6  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

paradise ;  in  the  lullabies  she  sings,  she  hears  far- 
off  echoes  of  her  maiden  dreams.  Hence  each 
one  believes  and  feels  that  the  best  books  are 
the  books  in  which  he  finds  himself.  For  a 
whole  world  of  rosy  cheeks  and  bright  eyes 
Mother  Goose  is  better  than  Plato  or  Shakspere ; 
and  for  a  world  a  little  older  Robinson  Crusoe 
has  more  worth  than  all  the  philosophies. 

A  boy  will  read  a  tale  of  adventure,  but  not  a 
history  of  scientific  research ;  a  girl  a  story  of 
love,  but  not  a  treatise  on  womanly  virtue.  Why 
urge  your  favorite  dish  or  tipple  on  those  by 
whom  it  is  disliked?  What  suits  us  suits  us, 
and  there  is  an  end  of  the  matter.  No,  it  is  not 
so.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  business  of  life  to 
give  us  an  opportunity  to  learn  to  know  and  love 
the  best  things.  When  we  are  children  we  take 
delight  in  the  things  of  children;  when  we 
become  men  we  still  feel  the  charm  of  our  early 
existence,  but  the  childish  has  no  longer  power 
to  please  us.  Having  become  other  we  cease 
to  be  able  to  find  ourselves  in  the  haunts  of  the 
olden  times.  They  are  beautiful  to  memory, 
but  had  we  to  go  back  to  them  we  should  find 
them  unendurable.  We  cannot  love  the  highest 
unless  we  see  it;  and  it  can  be  seen  only  by 
those  who  make  themselves  high.  Books  are 
not  everything,  but  for  those  who  wish  to  lead 
the  higher  life  they  are  indispensable.  "  Who- 


BOOKS.  177 

soever,"  says  De  Bury,  "  acknowledges  himself 
to  be  a  zealous  lover  of  truth,  of  happiness,  of 
wisdom,  of  science,  or  even  of  the  faith,  must  of 
necessity  make  himself  a  lover  of  books." 

Whether  we  wish  to  live  in  the  past,  or  to 
forecast  the  future,  or  to  fill  the  present  with 
delightful  thoughts  and  images;  whether  we 
wish  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  law,  or  of  medicine, 
or  of  theology ;  whether  we  wish  to  listen  to  the 
philosophers,  or  the  orators,  or  the  poets,  to 
weep  over  tragedies  or  to  laugh  at  comedies,  or 
to  thrill  at  the  spectacle  of  the  heroic  struggles 
of  patriots  and  martyrs;  whether  we  wish  to 
learn  how  to  live  or  how  to  die,  —  books  must 
be  our  teachers.  If  we  seek  knowledge,  they 
will  impart  it,  if  counsel,  they  will  give  it;  if  we 
want  consolation,  we  shall  find  it  in  them,  if 
recreation  and  beguilement,  in  them  also.  They 
are  athrill  with  life,  and  the  best  of  them  being 
alive  now  some  thousand  years,  inspire  us  with 
thoughts  of  immortality;  and  since  though  old 
they  are  still  young,  they  have  the  power  even 
when  age  bears  us  down,  to  rouse  within  us  the 
fresh  hope  and  courage  of  youth.  "  I  would  not 
barter  my  books  and  my  love  of  reading/'  said 
F^nelon,  "  for  kingdoms  and  empires."  "  My 
early  and  invincible  love  of  reading,"  said 
Gibbon,  "  I  would  not  exchange  for  the  treas- 
ures of  India."  Cicero  declared  that  he  would 

12 


1 78  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

part  with  all  he  possessed  rather  than  not  be  per- 
mitted to  live  and  die  among  his  books.  When 
Scott,  returning  to  Abbotsford  to  die,  was 
wheeled  into  his  library,  the  tears  burst  forth; 
and  Southey,  no  longer  able  to  read,  loved  to 
kiss  and  stroke  his  books. 

As  we  cannot  fathom  the  wealth  of  life  there 
is  in  a  real  man  by  occasional  conversations 
with  him,  so  we  cannot  appreciate  the  worth  of 
a  genuine  book  by  simply  reading  it.  We  must 
study  it,  learn  to  know  it  as  we  know  a  friend, 
seek  its  company  and  return  to  it  again  and 
again,  with  expectant  and  joyful  hearts,  as  we 
return  to  those  we  love.  There  are  not  many 
books  which  are  worthy  of  such  devotion,  nor 
will  all  of  these  commend  themselves  to  all. 
Each  one  must  find  for  himself  those  he  needs, 
those  which  stimulate  him  most;  one  or  two,  at 
least,  which  are  precious  to  him  he  must  dis- 
cover, or  remain  inferior,  never  attaining  true 
insight  into  the  worth  and  beauty  of  life.  The 
important  thing  is  not  what  we  like,  but  what 
we  ought  to  like,  questions  of  taste,  like  all  ques- 
tions, being  questions  of  reason.  One  of  our 
chief  aims  should  be  to  form  purer  and  higher 
tastes.  The  worse  pleases  us  because  we  have 
not  accustomed  ourselves  to  the  better.  The 
saying  —  tell  me  what  you  eat,  and  I  will  tell 
you  what  you  are  —  is  true  certainly  of  our  spir- 


BOOKS.  179 

itual    nourishment.     They   who    feed    on    low 
thoughts  and  desires  are  low  men. 

The  best  thing  the  youth  carries  from  college 
is  not  knowledge,  but  the  ardent  desire  to  learn; 
and  the  best  knowledge  he  gets  in  school  is  the 
knowledge  of  how  to  learn.  Genuine  books 
inspire  faith  and  courage,  confirm  hope,  beguile 
sorrow,  teach  wisdom,  fill  the  memory  with  beau- 
tiful and  noble  thoughts,  thrill  the  heart  with 
heroic  aspiration,  sow  the  mind  with  the  seeds 
of  truth,  bring  the  distant  and  the  past,  with  all 
their  glories,  victories,  failures,  and  defeats,  to 
the  homes  of  even  the  poor  and  heavy  laden,  to 
enrich,  soothe,  and  enlighten  their  weary  and 
lonely  lives.  If  parents,  teachers,  and  priests 
would  but  take  the  trouble  to  get  definite  knowl- 
edge concerning  the  books  which  are  best 
suited  to  rouse  the  young  to  mental  and  moral 
activity,  and  if  then  they  would  wisely  direct 
and  encourage  them  in.  their  reading,  they 
would  doubtless  render  them  higher  and  more 
lasting  service  than  any  which  may  result  from 
their  admonitions,  lessons,  and  exhortations. 
But  children  are  left  to  grope  their  way  or  are 
permitted  to  read  whatever  chance  or  the  family 
or  public  library  throws  into  their  hands ;  and 
since  their  judgment  and  taste  are  unformed,  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  what  is  false  and 
vicious  will  please  them  rather  than  what  is 


180  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

genuine  and  good.  The  end  of  reading,  as  of 
whatever  else  we  do,  is  self-improvement.  The 
world  exists  for  man,  and  its  proper  use  is  to 
make  him  more  fully  man.  Books  then  are  but 
a  means  of  self-culture.  They  help  us  to  think, 
to  believe,  to  love,  and  to  do,  or  they  render  us 
no  service.  Books  which  impart  information 
are  superseded  as  knowledge  increases,  but 
books  into  which  genius  has  poured  its  soul, 
keep  forever,  each  its  distinct  place,  in  the 
world's  literature.  As  they  sprang  from  deep 
glowing  minds  and  hearts  they  retain  always  the 
power  to  awaken  and  strengthen  minds  and 
hearts.  They  remain  as  a  spiritual  presence,  to 
move  men  to  diviner  sympathies,  to  lift  their 
thoughts  to  more  enduring  worlds.  Their 
creators 

"  Shake  the  ashes  of  the  grave  aside 
From  their  calm  locks,  and  imdiscomfited 
Look  steadfast  truths  against  time's  changing  mask." 

A  work  of  art,  like  "  Hamlet "  or  "  Faust,"  which 
may  be  had  for  a  few  cents,  would  be  held 
above  all  price,  if,  like  the  Sistine  Madonna 
or  the  Transfiguration,  its  perfect  truth  and 
beauty  could  be  found  but  in  a  single  exemplar. 
The  book-lover,  hidden  and  unknown,  may  feel 
that  all  the  mighty  men  of  words  and  deeds  are 
his  servants.  For  his  delight  and  instruction, 


BOOKS.  l8l 

they  have  thought  and  written  and  conquered 
and  upbuilt.  To  him  they  re-sing  their  songs ; 
to  him  they  rehearse  the  story  of  their  struggles 
and  triumphs. 

He  who  leaves  a  fortune  leaves  it  to  be  wasted 
or  misused ;  but  he  who  leaves  a  genuine  book, 
leaves  a  precious  and  imperishable  heritage  to 
all  the  wise  of  all  the  ages  to  come.  What  we 
need  to  make  us  what  we  are  capable  of  becom- 
ing is  not  new  information,  but  a  new  impulse 
which  shall  rouse  us  to  a  fuller  consciousness  of 
the  infinite  worth  of  truth  and  goodness,  and 
this  impulse  is  given  by  the  vital  books,  the 
books  of  power.  A  library  teaches  at  once  the 
vanity  and  the  nobleness  of  human  life.  Here 
lie  the  thoughts,  hopes,  dreams,  joys,  sor- 
rows, ambitions,  and  works  of  a  thousand  minds, 
desiccated  and  labelled,  like  specimens  in  a 
museum.  Into  this  mummy  dust  they  have  all 
crumbled.  And  yet  what  divine  virtue  must 
there  not  have  been  in  these  hearts,  whose 
words,  after  the  sleep  of  centuries,  are  ever 
ready  to  awaken  to  thrill  the  living  with  a  new 
sense  of  the  deathless  power  of  truth  and 
beauty?  How  is  it  possible  to  dwell  here  and 
not  be  pure,  humble,  and  reverent,  or  not  feel 
the  godlike  worth  of  man's  thought  and  love? 
And  have  not  those  who  have  lived  affection- 
ately among  books  been  in  general  good  and 


1 82  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

deserving  men?  "The  love  of  study/'  says 
Gibbon,  "  a  passion  which  derives  fresh  vigor 
from  enjoyment,  supplies  each  day,  each  hour 
with  a  perpetual  source  of  independent  and  ra- 
tional pleasure." 

If  conversation  lag  I  find  my  friend  is  dull; 
but  if  I  take  up  a  book  which  I  know  to  be  full 
of  inspiration  and  power,  and  it  prove  uninter- 
esting, I  am  driven  to  confess  that  the  fault  lies 
in  myself.  Thus  books,  being  unchangeable,  are 
touchstones  whereby  to  prove  ourselves.  An 
author  who  suggests,  enlightens  and  instructs 
also ;  for  to  be  impelled  to  think  is  to  be  im- 
pelled toward  insight  and  knowledge.  The 
greatest  thinkers  even  have  left  us  but  fragments 
of  their  minds,  or  if  they  have  written  what 
seems  to  be  a  complete  transcript  of  their  inner 
world,  that  in  it  which  we  find  inspiring  and 
helpful  is  fragmentary,  for  in  the  world  of  books, 
as  in  that  of  men,  we  choose  and  love  but  what 
suits  our  taste.  The  higher  our  intellectual 
power  and  culture,  the  more  clearly  do  we  per- 
ceive how  few  there  are  who  are  capable  of 
grasping  the  thought  and  import  of  a  great 
book.  In  the  words  of  the  Saviour,  simple  and 
plain  as  they  are,  how  much  there  is  which 
the  multitude  have  not  yet  fathomed;  nay, 
which  philosophers  even  have  failed  to  under- 
stand in  all  their  divine  significance  and  truth  ! 


BOOKS.  183 

For  the  right  appreciation  of  literature,  it  is  not 
sufficient  to  have  a  cultivated  mind  or  a  pure 
heart  or  a  living  power  of  imagination,  but  we 
must  have  them  all  and  have  them  act  in  har- 
mony. The  evils  which  the  habit  of  reading 
what  is  inferior  entails,  are  serious.  It  wastes 
time  which  might  be  profitably  employed ;  it 
leads  to  inattention,  since  poor  writing  invites 
the  mind  to  wander,  having  in  itself  no  attractive- 
ness ;  it  prevents  the  development  of  a  taste  for 
what  is  excellent,  enfeebles  the  power  of  dis- 
cernment, dulls  the  edge  of  the  intellect,  and 
accustoms  one  to  content  himself  with  the  super- 
ficial and  the  commonplace.  Its  effects  are 
similar  to  those  which  are  produced  by  associ- 
ation with  the  foolish  and  the  vulgar.  "  I  hate 
books,"  said  Rousseau  ;  "  they  teach  us  only  to 
talk  about  what  we  do  not  know.''  This  is  true 
of  those  who  read  but  the  books  of  facts ;  it  is 
not  true  of  those  who  read  the  books  of  power. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  find  those  who  are  indiffer- 
ent to  books  or  who  have  a  distaste  for  them. 
Shut  such  an  one  in  a  library,  and  he  is  as  lonely 
as  if  he  were  confined  in  a  prison  cell.  For  him 
the  books  are  as  dead  as  the  walls ;  their  pres- 
ence may  even  irritate  him  and  add  to  his 
wretchedness.  He  stays  gladly  with  men  or 
horses  or  flowers,  but  books  are  as  melancholy 
as  tombs :  they  give  him  a  sense  of  discomfort 


1 84  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

as  though  they  were  haunted,  having  heard, 
perchance,  that  there  is  some  sort  of  mysterious 
presence  in  them.  It  is  the  man  or  woman,  the 
brave,  generous,  thinking  soul  we  find  in  the 
book,  which  makes  it  precious,  makes  it  a  friend. 
But  magazines  and  newspapers,  like  corpora- 
tions, like  the  syndicates  that  publish  them,  are 
soulless.  They  merely  represent  something  or 
nothing,  like  a  member  of  Congress,  whom  we 
hardly  think  of  as  a  man.  A  book,  like  a  living 
person,  may  inspire  love  or  hate ;  but  who  can 
love  orvhate  magazines  or  newspapers?  They 
are  idle  things  for  the  idle  and  for  idle  hours. 
They  have  no  power  to  take  firm  hold  of  us  and 
to  rouse  us  to  self-activity.  They  have  no  char- 
acter themselves,  and  are  therefore  powerless  to 
form  minds  and  hearts.  They  are  for  the  mo- 
ment, and  their  readers  live  aimlessly  in  the 
present.  Their  world  is  what  happened  yester- 
day or  an  hour  ago,  and  their  educational  value 
is  not  greater  than  that  of  gossip  and  other 
trivial  pastimes ;  but  since  they  touch  upon 
everything,  those  whose  reading  is  confined  to 
them,  talk  about  many  things,  understanding 
nothing.  Put  your  daily  newspaper  aside  for  a 
week  and  then  look  through  all  the  numbers, 
and  you  will  need  no  argument  to  prove  of  how 
much  valuable  time  it  robs  you.  The  news- 
paper reader  lives  in  a  crowd,  in  the  midst  of  a 


BOOKS.  185 

mob  almost;  and  in  such  environment  it  is 
difficult  not  to  lose  the  sense  of  responsibility 
or  to  retain  a  sense  of  refinement,  decency,  and 
self-respect.  He  becomes  callous  both  to  what 
is  noble  and  to  what  is  vile.  The  deeds  of 
heroes  do  not  move  him,  and  crimes  and  calam- 
ities only  in  as  much  as  they  minister  to  his 
passion  for  novelty.  He  is  capable  even  of  a 
semi-conscious  longing  for  wars,  famines,  floods, 
and  wrecks,  that  his  craving  for  news  may  be 
fed.  He  tends  to  become  like  the  Roman  mul- 
titude, whom  the  sight  of  men  butchering  one 
another  made  drunk  with  pleasure.  The  houses 
of  the  powerful  and  the  rich  may  be  closed 
against  us,  but  if  we  are  lovers  of  books,  we  feel 
that  we  are  the  equals  of  the  best,  for  we  live 
in  the  company  of  prophets  and  apostles,  of 
philosophers  and  poets.  Socrates  will  ask  us 
questions,  Plato  will  admit  us  to  his  garden, 
and  Cicero,  lying  at  ease  in  his  Tusculan  Villa, 
will  discourse  to  us  of  all  high  things. 

I  rode  with  Milton  all  day  long, 

With  Milton  at  his  best; 
He  sang  his  high  heroic  song, 

While  I  reclined  at  rest. 

"  O  thou  who  art  able  to  write  a  book,"  says 
Carlyle,  "  which  once  in  two  centuries  or  oftener 
there  is  a  man  gifted  to  do,  envy  not  him  whom 


1 86  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

they  name  City-builder,  and  inexpressibly  pity 
him  whom  they  name  Conqueror,  or  City- 
burner."  In  the  library  of  even  a  poor  man  we 
may  easily  find  a  company  of  the  wisest  and 
wittiest,  gathered  from  many  lands  and  ages,  for 
his  instruction  and  entertainment.  He  need  but 
put  on  his  wishing-cap  and  any  one  of  them  will 
begin  to  talk  or  sing. 

A  genuine  book,  like  the  sun,  has  heat  and 
light  enough  for  all  the  world  through  all  the 
ages ;  nor  does  it  lose  what  it  gives,  but  though 
it  have  nourished  and  delighted  a  hundred  gen- 
erations it  still  retains  the  power  to  fill  a  hundred 
more  with  strength  and  joy.  He  who  has  not 
learned  to  find  pleasure  in  some  one  of  the  great 
books,  of  which  all  have  heard,  will  not  profit  by 
making  inquiry  concerning  what  he  should  read ; 
for  he  who  loves  none  of  the  great  books  reads 
to  little  purpose. 

"  Books,"  says  Channing,  "  are  the  true  level- 
lers." But  this  is  doubtful  praise.  The  aim 
should  be  not  to  bring  all  men  to  a  common  level, 
but  to  lift  as  many  as  possible  to  all  attainable 
heights,  that  the  multitude  may  be  drawn  to  fol- 
low them.  There  is  no  merit  in  equality,  unless 
it  be  equality  with  the  best.  Strive  to  make 
thyself  like  God,  not  like  the  crowd.  A  good 
book  delights  me  the  more  when  I  think  of  all 
the  pleasure  it  gave  its  author,  of  all  the  joy  and 


BOOKS.  IS/ 

consolation  it  has  given  to  thousands.  It  is  like 
a  jewel  which  has  become  more  precious  for 
'  having  sparkled  on  the  breasts  of  fair  and  noble 
women.  A  book  is  not  genuine  unless  it  can  be 
read  again  and  again,  even  after  the  lapse  of 
years,  with  new  profit  and  delight.  That  which 
having  read  we  care  not  to  look  at  a  second 
time,  is  an  ephemeral  thing,  and  should  have 
been  printed,  if  at  all,  in  a  newspaper.  "  He 
that  walketh  with  the  wise/'  says  Solomon, 
"  shall  be  wise."  He  who  converseth  with  the 
best  books  shall  be  strengthened  and  purified. 

Great  minds  are  distinguished  by  power  and 
depth  rather  than  by  newness  of  thought. 
They  write  what  all  may  understand,  but  what 
they  alone  possess  in  its  fulness  and  freshness. 
The  truth  which  others  passively  accept,  they 
lay  hold  on  and  work  into  the  innermost  fibres 
of  their  being.  It  pursues  them  and  gives  them 
no  rest,  for  however  they  strive  to  utter  it  they 
feel  that  it  is  still  unuttered.  They  perceive,  as 
none  else,  its  surpassing  worth  and  application 
to  life ;  and  it  is  their  faith  in  its  beneficent  and 
purifying  power  which  constitutes  their  genius, 
and  which  more  than  the  beauty  wherewith 
they  clothe  it,  gives  it  attractiveness  and  arrests 
attention,  for  when  readers  find  in  an  author 
who  does  not  lack  ability  profound  conviction 
and  seriousness,  they  are  persuaded  there  must 


1 88  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

be  something  in  him  deserving  study.  Their 
interest  is  thus  awakened,  and  among  many  a 
few  will  be  found  who  will  labor  with  earnest- 
ness and  perseverance  to  master  his  secret. 
Genuinely  great  minds  in  the  presence  of  the 
thought  and  faith  which  express  the  highest 
and  holiest  intuitions  and  yearnings  of  the 
soul  are  reverent  and  devout;  and  whoever 
treats  these  subjects  with  flippancy,  banishes 
himself  from  the  company  of  the  best.  It  is 
his  lack  of  reverence  and  devoutness  which 
makes  it  impossible  to  class  Emerson  with  the 
great  teachers.  As  it  takes  a  hero  to  know  a 
hero,  so  it  takes  a  true  reader  to  know  a  genuine 
book.  A  book  from  which  I  can  gain  nothing 
has  no  value  for  me ;  but  if  it  is  one  in  which 
others  have  found  profit,  its  failure  to  help  me 
is  probably  my  own  fault.  It  happens  that 
a  volume  which  we  put  aside  as  uninteresting, 
will,  if  taken  up  in  another  mood,  or  when  study 
has  reformed  our  judgment  and  taste,  prove  to 
be  of  genuine  worth  and  service.  At  all  events, 
it  is  certain  that  books  which  are  the  expression 
of  the  experience,  thought,  hope,  faith,  and  as- 
piration of  real  men,  are  fountains  of  living 
waters  for  all  who  know  how  to  draw  from  them. 
A  book  which  makes  us  contented  and  thank- 
ful, resolute  to  bear  up  under  adverse  fortune, 
and  to  continue  bravely  struggling,  which  con- 


BOOKS.  189 

firms  our  faith  in  virtue  and  in  knowledge,  and 
our  trust  in  God,  is  good  and  wholesome,  what- 
ever its  faults. 

"  We  get  no  good 
By  being  ungenerous  even  to  a  book." 

Brilliant  qualities  will  not  secure  a  permanent 
place  in  literature  for  a  writer  whose  thought 
does  not  reach  the  inner  core  of  truth.  "  Truth 
illuminates  and  gives  joy,"  says  Arnold,  "  and 
it  is  by  the  bond  of  joy,  not  of  pleasure,  that 
men's  spirits  are  indissolubly  held."  Generous 
sentiments,  wide  views,  a  tranquil  and  enlight- 
ened mind,  a  tolerant  and  sympathetic  nature, 
free  from  anger,  envy,  and  all  pettiness,  create 
the  spiritual  atmosphere  which  writers  who 
are  destined  to  immortality  breathe.  What  is 
best  in  the  genuine  books  is  neither  ancient  nor 
modern.  It  is  the  work  of  minds  who,  rising 
from  out  the  lapses  of  time,  utter  what  is 
eternally  true  and  fair.  The  great  books  belong 
to  those  alone  who  have  souls  akin  to  the 
minds  whose  thought  and  love  they  hold; 
give  them  to  kings  and  presidents,  and  they  find 
them  to  be  only  so  much  paper  and  morocco. 

If  we  take  a  survey  of  the  classical  authors, 
poets,  philosophers,  historians,  and  orators,  and 
note  their  most  striking  passages,  we  shall  be 
impressed  by  the  sameness  of  thought  and  sen- 
timent which  runs  through  them  all,  and  thus 


190  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION-. 

we  shall  get  a  deeper  insight  into  the  narrow- 
ness of  the  circle  in  which  even  the  noblest 
minds  are  condemned  to  move.  Again  and 
again,  from  age  to  age,  from  Greece  to  Italy, 
from  Jerusalem,  Athens,  and  Rome,  the  same 
truth  emerges,  clothed  almost  in  the  same  words. 
Genius  itself  despairs  of  uttering  anything  really 
new,  and  the  man  of  genius,  while  recognizing 
that  the  best  has  already  been  said,  is  tempted 
to  lament  his  late  appearance  on  earth.  The 
more  familiar  we  are  with  the  world's  literature, 
the  more  clearly  do  we  perceive,  that  apart 
from  new  theories,  resulting  from  new  discover- 
ies, inventions,  and  happenings,  there  is  little 
any  one  can  say  which  is  new.  But  the  soul 
of  man,  being  infinite  in  its  aspirations,  capable 
of  thoughts  which  transcend  all  bounds  and 
penetrate  eternity,  is  never  weary  of  contemplat- 
ing the  spiritual  facts  which  constitute  its  being, 
and  which,  like  itself,  are  of  unfathomable  im- 
port; and  therefore  it  never  loses  relish  for  the 
old  truth,  which  is  forever  new  in  its  applica- 
tions to  life,  having  power,  like  light,  to  remain 
itself,  while  it  clothes  the  world  with  endless 
variety  and  beauty.  Hence  the  works  of  genius 
never  grow  obsolete,  but  flourish  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  bearing  fresh  flowers  and 
rich  fruit;  and  as  no  truth  is  exactly  the  same 
for  any  two  minds,  so  is  truth  modified  to  suit 


BOOKS.  IQI 

the  changing  environment  in  which  the  race 
lives,  now  emerging  with  diviner  power  and  sig- 
nificance, and  now  obscured  by  the  passions  or 
the  heedlessness  of  the  age.  But  to  him  who 
has  once  perceived  its  real  nature,  its  infinite 
worth  is  plain.  He  will  abandon  all,  if  need  be, 
to  follow  it  It  is  the  pearl  above  price ;  it  is 
joy  and  love.  It  leads  to  the  inner  world  where 
consciousness  reveals  God  and  the  soul.  It 
makes  us  meek  and  lowly,  merciful  and  lovers 
of  peace;  it  fills  us  with  longing  for  righteous- 
ness ;  it  enables  us  to  bear  patiently  persecu- 
tion, poverty,  and  obloquy,  for  these  affect  the 
outer  man,  not  him  who  lives  within,  whom 
truth  makes  free  and  a  citizen  of  unseen  and 
higher  worlds,  capable  of  the  spiritual  worship, 
whereby  he  recognizes  his  kinship  with  the 
Eternal  and  with  all  the  pure  and  loving  souls 
for  whom  the  universe  is  a  temple  and  God  is 
all  in  all. 

Since  the  multitude  of  men  love  to  see  things 
happen  and  to  talk  and  read  of  them  as  happen- 
ing, but  have  little  capacity  and  less  liking  for 
reflection,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they  will 
read  books  which  are  interesting  only  because 
they  rouse  the  intellect  and  compel  thought. 
Such  books  will  not  find  many  readers,  but  the 
few  who  study  them  will  outweigh  in  mental 
force  and  moral  worth  whole  millions  who  relish 


LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

nothing  but  stories  and  newspapers.  Though 
we  be  not  able  clearly  to  perceive  the  priceless 
treasures  stored  in  books,  let  the  testimony  of 
so  many  of  the  noblest  minds  persuade  us  of 
their  worth,  and  inspire  us  to  discover  for  our- 
selves the  marvellous  world  of  which  these 
immortal  spirits  have  left  such  good  report. 
Shakspere's  advice,  to  study  what  we  most 
affect,  has  worth,  but  may  easily  mislead,  for 
most  readers  are  pleased  with  what  is  inferior  or 
vicious,  whereas  the  aim  of  whoever  wishes  to 
improve  himself  should  be  to  learn  to  take 
delight  in  the  best.  A  taste  for  what  is  genuine 
in  literature,  as  a  taste  for  what  is  genuine  in  art, 
being  an  acquired  taste,  a  main  purpose  of  our 
reading  should  be  to  cultivate  the  power  of  dis- 
tinguishing between  what  is  genuine  and  what  is 
spurious.  In  genuine  books  we  may  often  find 
things  which  we  cannot  accept,  which  repel  us 
even;  but  this  will  not  prevent  the  earnest 
student  from  striving  to  get  at  what  good  there 
is  in  them.  The  greatest  writers  have  their 
faults,  and  no  one  author  teaches  the  whole 
truth.  Intellectual  progress,  in  fact,  is  a  process 
of  choosing  from  the  best  what  is  suited  to  our 
needs. 

The  reading  as  the  writing  of  books  may  be  a 
disease,  the  indulgence  of  morbid  propensities, 
of  vanity,  of  indolence,  of  a  fondness  for  what 


BOOKS.  193 

is  sensational  or  frivolous;  and  it  is  doubtless 
true  that  many  of  us  spend  no  time  more  idly 
than  that  which  we  give  to  reading,  which  unless 
it  rouse  us  to  self-activity,  does  us  harm.  The 
case  with  speculative  and  practical  truth  is  the 
same,  —  neither  is  vitally  held  except  by  those 
who  cease  not  from  striving  to  learn,  whether  by 
thinking  or  by  doing.  As  it  is  better  to  know  a 
great  man  than  to  hear  others  talk  about  him, 
however  pleasant  their  discourse,  so  is  it  more 
profitable  to  study  genuine  books  than  to  read 
about  them.  Literary  criticism  is  valuable  only 
when  it  wakens  in  us  a  desire  to  acquaint  our- 
selves with  the  books  which  thrill  with  life  and 
power;  for  to  them  and  not  to  the  critics  we 
must  go  for  light  and  strength.  In  writers  who 
have  merely  talent  thou  shalt  vainly  look  for 
help.  If  thy  mind  is  to  be  made  luminous  and 
the  fountain  of  thy  heart  opened,  it  must  be 
done  by  thoughts  which  spring  from  the  deepest 
soul  of  man.  All  of  worth  which  even  the  best 
writer  has  to  impart  is  derived  from  his  experi- 
ence ;  but  his  experience,  to  be  interesting  and 
fruitful,  must  be  communicated  with  the  tact  and 
skill,  the  correctness  and  adequacy,  the  ease 
and  grace,  which  constitute  the  charm  of  a  real 
man  of  letters.  Reading  is  valuable  chiefly  as  a 
stimulus  to  action,  since  the  end  of  life  is  to  do 
rather  than  to  think.  Hence  what  fails  to  rouse 
13 


194  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

within  us  courage  and  the  impulse  to  act,  helps 
us  not  at  all  or  little. 

Beware  of  words  —  there  is  no  worse  delusion 
than  that  which  leads  us  to  imagine  that  the 
acceptance  of  the  same  formulas  is  equivalent 
to  a  union  of  mind  and  heart.  Words  are  but 
symbols,  and  to  attempt  to  substitute  them  for 
truth  is  preposterous.  This  verbal  superstition 
is  the  more  to  be  dreaded,  because  great  writers 
have  such  mastery  over  language  that  their 
readers  easily  mistake  the  form  for  the  sub- 
stance, and  worship  an  idol  instead  of  God. 
Men  rush  into  all  kinds  of  danger  and  folly, 
rather  than  bear  the  imputation  of  cowardice  or 
superstition,  so  great  is  the  tyranny  of  words 
over  unthinking  minds. 

The  reading  of  many  books  gives  pleasure, 
but  the  careful  study  of  a  few  profits  most. 

"  Who  reads 

Incessantly,  and  to  his  reading  brings  not 
A  spirit  and  judgment  equal  or  superior, 
Uncertain  and  unsettled  still  remains, 
Deep  versed  in  books  and  shallow  in  himself." 

However  well  an  author  express  his  thought, 
it  is  not  possible  for  him  to  impart  the  experi- 
ence without  which  it  cannot  be  rightly  under- 
stood. As  the  mind  grows,  the  aspect  of  things 
changes,  as  objects  seen  through  a  microscope 


BOOKS.  195 

appear  other  than  when  viewed  with  the  naked 
eye.  Mental  culture  leads  us  to  worlds  unlike 
that  in  which  we  grew  up,  —  as  much  wider  and 
richer  than  it  as  our  modern  universe  is  vaster 
and  in  every  way  more  glorious  than  the  one 
the  ancients  imagined.  As  our  fuller  insight  into 
the  laws  of  nature  is  the  result  of  the  labor  of 
centuries  and  of  innumerable  minds,  so  the  indi- 
vidual can  acquire  culture  only  by  industry  and 
observation,  by  patient  thought  and  much  read- 
ing; but  once  it  is  ours  the  pains  it  has  cost 
are  forgotten  in  the  sense  of  freedom  and 
strength  which  it  imparts.  "  Culture,"  says 
Arnold,  "  is  indispensably  necessary,  and  culture 
is  reading,  but  reading  with  a  purpose  to  guide 
it,  and  with  system.  He  does  a  good  work  who 
does  anything  to  help  this ;  indeed,  it  is  the  one 
essential  service  now  to  be  rendered  to  educa- 
tion." Read  with  a  dictionary  at  your  side,  and 
never  pass  a  word  whose  meaning  you  do  not 
fully  understand. 

Most  readers  seek  themselves  in  books,  but 
an  awakened  mind  finds  all  the  books  in  him- 
self—  they  but  serve  to  call  his  attention  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  there.  When  a  young  stu- 
dent enters  a  great  library,  he  is  overcome  by  a 
sense  of  discouragement.  How  shall  he  ever 
learn  all  the  wisdom  which  is  there  stored?  The 
labor  of  a  lifetime  must  still  leave  him  on  the 


196  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

threshold.  But  one  who  is  master  in  the  art  of 
reading  knows  that  a  few  books,  thoroughly 
assimilated,  are  a  key  to  all  others,  and  he  no 
more  dreams  of  reading  them  all  than  of  eating 
all  the  provisions  in  the  market-house.  Their 
chief  use  is  to  nourish,  strengthen,  and  inspire, 
and  but  one  in  thousands  has  vital  substance. 

Original  authors  are  rarely  found  interesting 
at  first;  they  rather  repel  and  give  pain  because 
they  call  forth  in  the  reader  the  consciousness 
of  his  inferiority.  But  if  he  persevere,  he  learns 
to  love  them  for  the  help  he  finds  in  them. 
Love  indeed  is  the  only  thing  which  can  put  us 
at  ease  with  the  truly  great,  for  it  alone  makes 
us  glad  to  acknowledge  their  superiority.  There 
is  no  author,  as  there  is  no  man,  who  is  wholly 
great,  The  best  are  great  only  on  occasion  or 
in  setting  forth  special  phases  of  truth,  when 
they  are  fully  themselves  and  throw  all  their 
power  of  thought  and  feeling  into  the  matter. 
The  reader's  secret  is  to  know  when  the  diviner 
mind  speaks,  and  to  wait  upon  its  utterance  with 
thoroughly  awakened  attention,  passing  lightly 
over  what  is  ordinary  and  uninspired.  He  seeks 
in  each  author  for  what  he  can  find  in  him  alone 
or  at  the  least  more  perfectly  in  him  than  in 
any  other.  As  a  good  workman  does  good 
work  even  with  poor  tools,  so  a  true  reader  finds 
intimations  of  truth  and  beauty  in  books  in 


BOOKS.  197 

which  others  see  nothing.  He  carries  himself 
to  the  task,  and  reads  his  own  mind  into  and  out 
of  the  printed  page.  It  is  not  by  hearing  elo- 
quent men  or  by  visiting  strange  lands  and 
venerable  monuments,  that  we  shall  come  to 
insight  which  they  alone  attain  who  dwell  with 
their  own  thoughts  and  make  the  godward 
ascent  from  their  own  hearts. 

"  I  hate  this  shallow  Americanism,"  says 
Emerson,  "  which  hopes  to  get  rich  by  credit,  to 
get  knowledge  by  raps  on  midnight  tables,  to 
learn  the  economy  of  the  mind  by  phrenology, 
or  to  acquire  skill  without  study  or  mastery 
without  apprenticeship."  The  only  essentially 
interesting  things  in  the  world  are  the  struggles 
of  men  for  knowledge,  liberty,  and  virtue,  and 
the  most  pathetic  thing  is  the  blind  and  helpless 
way  in  which  they  struggle.  Here  is  America, 
set  apart  and  dedicated  to  freedom,  peopled  by 
a  chosen  race,  and  it  is  already  delivered  into 
the  hands  of  mammonites,  Philistines,  boodlers, 
thugs,  and  editors.  How  shall  we  have  faith  in 
the  power  of  man  to  govern  himself  and  to  up- 
build his  being  to  the  full  height?  The  wicked 
who  love  not  their  fellowmen,  but  study  how 
they  may  dominate  and  make  use  of  them,  trust 
to  nothing  so  much  as  to  the  dulness,  inattention, 
and  sensual  indolence  of  the  multitude.  If  the 
inert  mass  could  be  lifted  to  the  plane  where 


E    LI 

OP  TT 


1 98  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

men   think   and    care,    all    reforms    would    be 
made  easy. 

When  we  fail  to  recognize  the  truly  great,  the 
loss  is  ours,  not  theirs.  The  knowledge  of 
books  which  the  most  have  is  like  one's  acquaint- 
ance with  a  chance  companion.  We  remember 
that  he  said  this  or  that,  but  the  spirit  and  heart 
of  the  man  is  hidden  from  us. 

The  book  is  suggestive,  but  what  does  it  sug- 
gest to  the  dull  and  heedless?  The  universe  is 
athrill  with  truth  and  beauty,  but  for  the  multi- 
tude it  means  little  more  than  bread  and  meat. 
Read  what  gives  thee  delight,  thrills  thee  with 
admiration,  and  awakens  love;  but  strive  assid- 
uously so  to  form  thy  judgment  and  taste 
that  only  the  best  shall  please  thee.  The  im- 
portant thing  for  thee  is  not  what  divine  truths 
may  be  found  in  the  works  of  men  of  genius, 
but  what  thou  findest  in  thy  own  mind  and 
heart.  There  or  nowhere  is  the  infinite  life 
revealed  to  thee.  The  best  authors  are  not 
those  who  teach  most,  but  those  who  inspire 
the  love  of  excellence,  and  give  their  readers 
strength  and  courage  to  pursue  it  with  perse- 
verance. 

The  noble  deed,  the  perfect  word, 
Undying  works,  is  ever  heard. 

It  is  easy  to  find  fault:    appreciation  requires 
intelligence  and  character. 


BOOKS.  199 

"  We  have  a  combat  to  sustain,"  says  St.  Basil ; 
;<  to  prepare  ourselves  for  it  we  must  seek  the 
company  of  the  poets,  the  historians,  and  the 
orators."  Play  at  games  when  thou  canst  not 
find  a  genuine  book  or  a  true  man  to  entertain 
and  enlighten  thee.  A  little  volume  will  hold 
the  wisdom  of  mankind,  but  it  is  wisdom  only 
for  those  whom  reflection  and  experience  have 
made  wise.  Carlyle  and  his  disciples  have 
striven  to  persuade  us  that  genuine  faith  is  not 
possible  in  the  present  age,  which  they  believe 
hopelessly  given  over  to  insincerity  and  cant. 
It  is  a  shallow  doctrine,  and  one  which  the 
grim  seer,  whose  eye  was  quick  to  pierce  shams, 
should  have  plainly  seen  to  be  an  unreality. 
The  universe  has  not  fallen  to  decay,  nor  have 
the  brain  and  heart  of  man  withered.  God  is 
in  His  heaven,  and  the  world  is  as  glorious  as 
on  the  primal  day.  Man  knows  more  than  he 
has  ever  known,  he  is  freer,  more  human  and 
stronger  than  he  has  ever  been ;  and  it  is  child- 
ish to  take  the  tone  of  complaint  in  the  pres- 
ence of  our  wider  views,  deeper  insight,  and 
aims  more  consciously  worthy.  The  world  is 
indeed,  as  it  has  ever  been,  full  of  insincerity, 
since  wholly  true  and  genuine  natures  are  and 
always  have  been  rare.  This  is  part  of  the  mys- 
tery of  evil  which  we  cannot  fathom,  but  which 
does  not  weaken  the  faith  and  hope  of  brave 


200  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION-. 

hearts.  The  evil  there  is  in  men  is  plain  to  the 
dullest.  The  wise  study  the  good  there  is  in 
them.  Thou  lovest,  O  my  soul,  blue  heavens 
and  white  clouds  up-piled,  the  starry  vault  and 
moonlit  sky,  plain  and  snowy  peak.  Thou 
lovest  the  race  of  man,  to  which  all  saints  and 
sages,  heroes  and  poets,  belong;  of  which  are 
born  the  nursing  mothers  whose  faces  bend  over 
sleeping  infants,  smiling  in  their  sleep,  watch- 
ing over  them  until  they  grow  to  fair  maidens 
whose  thoughts  are  sweet  and  pure  as  flowers 
new  blown,  to  youths  whose  hearts  are  fresh 
and  strong  as  torrents  leaping  adown  their 
rocky  beds.  This  is  God's  world,  my  soul ! 
thou  art  His  child ;  have  no  fear  whether  thou 
wake  or  whether  thou  fall  asleep. 

In  literature  nothing  really  counts  but  that 
which  sane  and  honest  minds  have  written  in 
uttermost  sincerity;  the  rest  is  like  a  dress  of 
ceremony  which  suits  the  occasion,  but  has  no 
further  use  or  significance.  In  the  best  litera- 
ture even  we  feel  that  words  fail  to  reveal  truth 
and  beauty,  whose  very  nature  it  is  to  elude 
expression.  Whether  we  write  or  paint  or 
chisel,  we  pursue  what  cannot  be  overtaken ; 
but  the  futility  of  the  highest  effort  is  recog- 
nized only  by  the  most  sincere  and  poetic  souls. 
The  common  man  is  content  with  his  common 
achievements.  The  books  which  never  lose 


BOOKS.  201 

their  power  to  charm  are  those  which  reflect  the 
very  life  and  mind  of  their  authors :  for  a  living 
soul  is  perennially  interesting.  No  writer,  how- 
ever much  genius  he  may  have,  is  great,  if  his 
spirit  is  perverse.  The  affinity  of  the  mind  is 
with  truth,  goodness,  and  beauty,  as  that  of  the 
eye  with  light,  and  a  fondness  for  the  darker 
sides  of  life  is  evidence  of  perversity.  The 
noblest  influence  is  that  which  inspires  the  love 
of  truth  and  right.  So  averse  is  the  spiritual  from 
the  sensual  nature,  that  the  preservation  of  the 
individual  and  the  propagation  of  the  race  seem 
insufficient  to  bind  the  soul  to  this  servitude, 
and  hence  it  is  prodded  with  the  goad  of  appe- 
tite and  lust,  until  stooping  to  the  mire  its 
bedraggled  wings  can  hardly  lift  it  again  to  the 
azure  dome.  Shall  genius  turn  traitor  to  the 
soul,  and  become  the  purveyor  of  putridity? 

The  art  which  is  at  all  times  within  the  reach 
of  all  is  found  only  in  books.  If  one  could 
easily  meet  with  men  and  women  wrho  are  at 
once  intelligent  and  sympathetic,  their  company 
might  be  as  pleasant  and  possibly  as  helpful  as 
intercourse  with  books.  But  since  such  society 
is  hardly  to  be  had,  how  gladly  one  flees  the 
ceaseless  din  of  talk  of  one's  self  and  one's  neigh- 
bor, of  politics  and  business,  of  marriage  and 
death,  to  take  refuge  with  the  noble  minds,  who, 
emancipated  from  the  bondage  of  earthly  life, 


202  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

dwell  in  the  serene  world  of  immortal  things. 
A  word  or  a  hint  shows  the  whole  matter  to 
intelligent  readers.  At  a  glance  they  see  the 
author's  scope,  and  decide  whether  or  -not  he 
is  worth  studying.  In  quitting  one  book  for 
another,  as  in  leaving  one  person  for  another, 
we  often  feel  not  only  that  we  have  crossed 
oceans  and  ages,  but  that  we  have  gotten  into 
other  worlds.  Take  thy  book  as  thy  money.  If 
with  it  thou  canst  please  and  help  others,  be 
glad ;  but,  if  they  care  not  for  it,  it  is  not  there- 
fore the  less  precious  to  thyself. 

What  a  delightful  thing  it  is  to  come  upon  a 
book  scarcely  known,  in  which  there  is  the 
breath  of  genius.  I  can  recall  the  time  when 
I  measured  my  progress  in  learning  by  the  size 
of  my  class-book  ;  and  there  are  many  I  believe 
who  do  not  think  that  great  wisdom  may  be 
found  in  a  little  volume.  It  is  like  the  prejudice 
against  small  men,  or  the  notion  that  great  men 
should  have  high  place  or  live  in  a  large  city. 
When  they  speak  of  a  little  book  they  imply 
that  it  has  little  worth.  A  genuine  book  is  a 
mirror  in  which  we  behold  our  proper  counte- 
nance; but  if  we  ourselves  are  unsightly,  how 
shall  ~we  hope  to  see  the  reflection  of  a  face 
clothed  with  beauty?  He  who  gets  from  books 
only  what  they  contain,  knows  not  their  proper 
use.  The  best  service  to  be  had  from  them  is 


BOOKS.  203 

not  the  information  they  impart,  but  the  exer- 
cise of  mind  to  which  they  impel.  Many  imag- 
ine that  when  an  author  is  declared  to  be  an 
atheist,  a  materialist,  or  a  pantheist  all  that  it  is 
necessary  to  know  of  him  has  been  said ;  but  real 
minds  strive  to  get  at  the  thought  of  real  minds, 
whatever  their  world-view  be.  The  phrase 
does  not  determine  the  thought,  but  springs 
from  it ;  and  if  we  wish  to  understand  how  well 
an  author  writes  we  must  look  first  to  what  he 
intends  to  say.  When  the  substance  is  known, 
the  fitness  of  the  expression  is  easily  perceived. 
To  have  a  conception  which  will  not  issue 
into  light  and  form,  and  to  struggle  with  it  till 
the  right  word  and  the  right  phrase  reveal 
themselves,  and  the  thought  springs  forth  like 
Minerva  from  the  brain  of  Jove  —  this  is  to 
experience  the  creative  force  of  genius.  In 
every  good  style  there  is  a  quality  which  gives 
it  vitality  and  charm,  and  which  cannot  be 
acquired,  but  is  inborn.  It  is  like  the  tone  of 
voice,  the  manner  and  expression,  which  stamp 
one  as  a  distinct  individual.  If  the  thought  is 
clear  and  high,  it  will  clothe  itself  in  fit  words. 
Inferior  style  implies  inferior  thinking.  One 
might  suggest  Kant  as  an  objection,  but  the 
last  thing  which  may  be  asserted  of  his  style 
is  that  it  is  inferior.  Goethe  said  that  to  read 
him  was  like  entering  a  well-lighted  room. 


204  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Confine  thy  reading  to  books  which  inspire 
and  illumine,  or  give  information  on  subjects 
in  which  a  serious  mind  may  take  genuine  in- 
terest. The  time  we  give  to  newspapers  would, 
if  rightly  used,  bring  us  to  philosophical  insight. 
If  a  masterpiece,  consecrated  by  the  consent  of 
the  competent,  please  thee  not,  be  silent.  To 
condemn  were  folly,  to  praise,  insincerity.  The 
plaintive  tone,  which  seems  to  rise  from  the 
depths  of  despair,  sounding  like  the  murmurs 
Dante  heard  escaping  from  the  pool  of  Male- 
bolge,  and  which  is  frequent  in  the  writings  of 
Renan  and  other  religious  sceptics,  is  a  false  note 
in  literature.  The  author  has  not  the  right  to 
be  weak  and  cowardly,  and  if  such  knowledge 
as  he  has  been  able  to  get,  takes  from  him  hope 
and  heart,  he  will  hardly  persuade  us  that  it 
has  worth. 

The  best  books  have  given  most  delight  to 
their  authors.  How  gladly  Plutarch  lives  among 
his  heroes  and  sages ;  with  what  cheerful  con- 
tentment Montaigne  makes  his  book,  feeling  that 
thereby  he  is  making  himself;  into  what  a  serene 
world  the  Emperor  Marcus  rises  when  he  writes 
his  thoughts  !  Plato  has  the  spirit  and  light-heart- 
edness  of  a  healthful  youth ;  Chaucer  rhymes  his 
tales  as  merrily  as  birds  trill  their  matin  songs  ; 
and  to  turn  to  minds  more  intense,  Dante  and 
Milton  forget  their  exile  and  blindness,  while 


BOOKS.  205 

they  sing  of  the  eternal  abodes  of  men,  and  of 
eternal  light  and  darkness.  Bacon  is  like  a 
mediciner,  gathering  healing  herbs  in  flowery 
meads ;  and  Descartes,  for  whom  the  hidden 
life  is  the  good  life,  sat  quietly  looking  into 
his  own  mind  and  into  nature,  until  all  things 
were  clothed  for  him  with  intelligibleness.  De- 
foe is  happy  on  his  desert  island,  St.  Pierre 
would  linger  always  with  his  youthful  lovers, 
and  A'Kempis  leads  forever  his  devout  and 
simple  life. 

They  who  utter  original  thought  are  single 
and  alone :  but  for  right  minds  they  are  more 
interesting  than  warriors  with  their  armies,  than 
kings  with  their  pomp  and  circumstance  ;  and 
the  interest  they  inspire  endures  while  right 
minds  endure.  The  most  beautiful  thoughts 
spring  from  remembered  things  which  in  far- 
off  days  mellowed  the  soul  and  suffused  it  with 
light.  They  are  like  the  wine  which  rose  within 
the  grapes  of  springs  long  gone,  and  which 
through  years  has  grown  rich  and  fragrant  in 
cool  and  hidden  cellars.  There  is  a  flavor  in 
them  which  nothing  but  the  hallowing  influence 
of  time  and  sorrow  can  give.  They  are  filled 
with  the  colors  of  dawns  and  sunsets,  they 
are  redolent  of  showrers  and  dews ;  there  is 
in  them  the  odor  of  new-ploughed  ground,  and 
faint  echoes  of  the  laughter  of  children  and  of 


206  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

the  lullabies  of  mothers  rocking  their  babes  to 
sleep.  The  whole  earth  is  made  fair  and  spirit- 
ual by  the  monuments  and  works  of  art,  which 
all  know,  whether  or  not  they  have  seen  them. 
In  thinking  of  Jerusalem,  Athens,  and  Rome, 
we  become  more  conscious  of  the  divine  ele- 
ment in  humanity.  They  are  symbols  of  what 
our  race  is  worth.  In  the  same  way  a  man  of 
genius,  though  we  know  of  him  scarcely  more 
than  his  name,  ennobles  us  all.  To  these 
heights,  we  say  to  ourselves,  one  of  our  kind 
has  ascended ;  we  are  not  of  base  blood  since 
we  have  such  a  brother.  To  read  a  book  with 
the  understanding  merely  is  to  miss  its  true 
significance  and  power  ;  for  a  genuine  book  is 
written  by  the  whole  man,  and  contains  not 
merely  what  he  knows,  but  it  is  athrill  with 
what  he  thinks,  dreams,  imagines,  hopes,  be- 
lieves, and  loves.  It  is  his  living  vesture  woven 
by  himself  out  of  the  substance  of  God  and  all 
things. 

They  do  not  read  books  who  complain  of  the 
endless  making  of  books.  A  true  reader  is  will- 
ing that  thousands  appear,  if  but  one  of  them 
has  worth,  as  the  miner  gladly  throws  up  tons 
of  earth,  if  here  and  there  he  find  a  precious 
stone.  How  is  it  possible  to  live  without  lit- 
erature, without  intercourse  with  books,  without 
nourishment  for  the  spirit  which  makes  us  men  ? 


BOOKS.  207 

If  thou  findest  nothing  new  in  the  book,  it  has 
at  least  helped  thee  to  see  how  wise  thou  art. 
The  vae  soli  does  not  apply  to  those  who  think, 
for  they  live  with  the  truth  which  makes  the 
universe  alive  with  God's  presence.  O  Gen- 
ius, sell  not  thy  gifts  to  the  rich  and  powerful 
nor  yet  to  the  rabble.  They  were  bestowed 
upon  thee  by  God,  for  godlike  uses.  "  Books," 
says  Hazlitt,  "  let  us  into  the  souls  of  men  and 
lay  open  to  us  the  secrets  of  our  own.  They 
are  the  first  and  last,  the  most  homefelt,  the 
most  heartfelt  of  all  our  enjoyments." 

We  boast  of  having  talked  with  a  great  poet 
or  philosopher,  whose  books  lie  unopened  on 
our  shelves ;  and  yet  the  conversation  was  com- 
monplace, while  what  there  was  of  genius  in  the 
man  lives  in  these  dust-covered  volumes.  If 
we  could  go  to  the  tomb  of  a  divine  man  and 
wake  him  and  bid  him  speak,  we  should  set  the 
world  agape  and  all  men  would  be  eager  to 
listen.  His  book  is  his  tomb,  where  he  lies 
asleep,  ready,  if  we  wish,  to  shake  off  his  slum- 
ber and  tell  us  the  best  he  knew  and  loved.  As 
it  is  well  to  turn  the  young  loose  in  gardens 
and  fields,  to  permit  them  to  wander  in  woods, 
over  hills,  and  along  flowing  streams,  so  is  it 
wise  to  place  in  their  hands  the  best  books, 
helping  them  to  choose  what  pleases  the  fancy, 
quickens  thought,  raises  the  imagination,  and 


2O8  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

purifies  the  heart.  To  say  that  we  are  respon- 
sible for  what  we  read  is  but  to  say  that  we  are 
responsible  for  what  we  think  and  do,  love  and 
admire,  hope  and  believe.  Books  make  read- 
ers, as  opportunities  provoke  endowments. 
They  are  opportunities  for  spiritual  growth. 
In  them  we  discover  not  gold  and  precious 
stones,  but  ourselves  lifted  into  the  light  and 
warmth  of  all  that  man  knows  and  God  has  re- 
vealed. To  read  the  best  books  it  is  not  enough 
to  be  attentive.  We  must  linger  in  meditation 
over  their  pages,  as  in  studying  a  work  of  art 
or  a  beautiful  landscape,  we  love  to  stand  in 
silence  before  it,  that  so,  if  possible,  we  may 
drink  its  life  and  spirit. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TEACHER  AND  THE   SCHOOL. 

The  godlike  man,  the  noble  pedagogue, 
Who  cast  a  people  in  heroic  mould.  — GOETHE. 

T)UBLIC  education  is  a  people's  deliberate 
-L  effort  to  form  a  nobler  race  of  men.  It 
is  of  paramount  importance,  because  other 
things  which  the  national  life  fosters,  as  growth 
of  population,  increase  of  wealth,  abundance 
of  food,  comfort,  facility  of  travel  and  trans- 
portation, political,  social,  and  religious  freedom, 
are  but  means  to  the  one  end  of  human  effort, 
which  is  to  make  man  himself  wise,  strong,  lov- 
ing, reverent,  pure,  and  fair.  India  and  China 
have  half  the  population  of  the  earth,  but  we 
care  not  for  them,  because  their  life  is  unin- 
telligent, unprogressive,  and  uninteresting.  We 
look  to  kind  more  than  to  numbers  and  magni- 
tude. Microbes  are  more  numerous  than  men, 
trees  are  larger. 

When  we  consider  the  universal  stream  of 
matter,  the  human  race  appears  to  be  of  little 
more  importance  than  the  insect  tribes  which 
fill  the  air  of  a  summer  evening.  The  earth 


210  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

spins  on  in  its  double  whirl,  the  stars  gleam, 
the  heat  glows,  the  rain  falls,  the  rivers  flow, 
the  seasons  come  and  go,  bringing  life  and 
death  to  the  children  of  men  as  though  they 
were  but  flowers  which  bloom  in  the  morning 
and  die  at  evening.  But  when  we  deepen  our 
view,  we  perceive  that  the  thought  and  love  of 
man  give  to  matter  its  spiritual  element,  its 
truth  and  beauty  ;  and  that  he  therefore  is  of  a 
higher  order  and  of  more  worth  than  all  the 
orbs  which  fill  the  limitless  expanse  of  the 
heavens.  In  the  same  way,  when  we  look  at 
the  human  race  itself,  the  individual  appears  to 
be  insignificant;  but  when  we  come  closer  we 
are  made  aware  that  it  is  the  individual  who 
guides  the  mass  to  weal  or  woe.  He  founds 
religions,  moulds  heterogeneous  tribes  into  na- 
tions, creates  civilization,  art,  literature,  and 
science.  He  undermines  faith  and  hope,  or 
uplifts  and  holds  the  multitude  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  God's  presence  in  the  world  and 
in  the  soul.  The  race  forms  the  individual,  the 
individual  gives  rank  and  importance  to  the 
race,  which  exists  and  acts  only  in  and  through 
him.  Hence  the  highest  function  which  a 
people  can  perform  is  to  assist  the  individ- 
uals of  which  it  is  composed,  to  bring  forth 
within  themselves  the  qualities  which  make 
them  human,  which  make  them  true  and  good 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL.      211 

and  fair  and  wise.  This  is  each  one's  life-task, 
which  is  never  finished,  for  it  means  ceaseless 
effort,  strong  and  great-hearted  striving  for  the 
best.  This  is  what  religious^  minds  teach  when 
they  tell  us  that  it  is  man's  duty  to  grow  like  to 
God,  —  God  who  is  power,  wisdom,  and  love,  in 
unimaginable  excellence,  the  perfect  being,  the 
highest  of  which  it  is  possible  to  think.  This 
is  what  philosophers  affirm  when  they  declare 
that  a  man's  proper  business  is  to  make  himself 
reasonable,  virtuous,  and  humane,  that  he  may 
become  self-active  in  the  service  of  truth,  beauty, 
and  goodness.  The  ideal  is  human  perfection  ; 
the  means  whereby  it  is  approached  is  self- 
activity.  We  are  men  only  so  far  as  we  are 
self-active.  It  is  this  that  makes  us  capable 
of  thinking,  observing,  and  feeling;  it  is  this 
that  gives  us  power  to  speak,  to  do,  and  to 
control  our  action.  It  is  by  rousing  us  to  self- 
activity  that  God  and  nature  work  upon  us,  and 
it  is  by  doing  this  that  the  teacher  educates. 
The  activity  which  nature,  when  left  to  itself, 
calls  forth,  is  chiefly  physical  and  animal. 
Savage  tribes  have  dwelt  from  immemorial 
ages  beneath  the  splendors  of  sun  and  moon, 
have  seen  the  dawn  and  the  gloaming  and  the 
starlit  heavens,  have  walked  by  the  sounding 
ocean  and  by  wide  rivers,  have  looked  on  the 
glories  with  which  the  seasons  clothe  the  moun- 


212  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

tains  and  the  plains,  and  yet  their  spiritual 
nature  has  remained  untouched.  They  have 
continued  to  lead  the  lower  life,  groping  in  the 
darkness  of  ignorance  and  passion.  It  is  not 
possible  to  give  what  we  have  not,  and  as  nature 
is  without  thought  and  love,  it  cannot,  of  it- 
self, awaken  thought  and  love.  This  only  the 
thinking  mind  and  loving  heart  can  do.  Only 
they  who  are  developed,  educated,  and  formed, 
can  develop,  educate,  and  form  others/  Each 
one's  educational  influence  is  measured  by  the 
knowledge  and  culture  which  he  has  made  his 
own ;  and  since  knowledge  and  culture  are  vital 
and  genuine  in  those  alone  who  strive  seriously 
and  with  perseverance  to  improve  themselves, 
it  follows  that  only  they  are  true  educators  who 
are  all  the  while  busy  upbuilding  their  own  being, 
by  increasing  their  power  of  knowing  and  doing, 
by  deepening  and  purifying  their  power  of  hop- 
ing and  believing  and  loving.  No  good  work  is 
ever  done  by  men  who  do  not  put  their  heart  in 
the  work.  Best  work  is  possible  only  to  those 
who  take  more  delight  in  doing  the  thing  well, 
thoroughly  well,  than  in  any  reward  they  may 
receive.  Men  of  genius  create  masterpieces 
because  they  throw  their  whole  life  into  the  task, 
believe  in  it  and  love  it  with  all  their  might, 
heedless  of  what  impression  it  may  make  upon 
others.  Their  art  is  for  them  a  religion,  an  in- 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL. 

tegrant  part  of  their  being,  in  which  if  they  do 
not  live,  they  die  altogether.  They  never  cease  to 
strive,  because  they  are  guided  and  ruled  by  an 
ideal  of  perfection  to  which,  however  great  their 
gifts  or  their  performance,  they  never  attain. 
They  feel  that  they  may  yet  do  better  things, 
and  hope  and  confidence  keep  them  fresh  and 
strong.  They  become  and  find  themselves  in 
their  work.  They  grow  with  it,  and  rise  with  it 
toward  the  truth  and  beauty  of  which  it  is  the 
symbol  and  expression.  Though  every  teacher 
cannot  have  genius,  every  real  educator  works 
in  this  spirit.  He  is  a  lover  of  human  perfection 
in  himself  and  in  others,  and  he  has  a  living 
and  abiding  faith  in  education  as  the  great 
means  whereby  this  highest  end  may  be  at- 
tained. Reflection  and  experience  have  taught 
him  that  what  he  is,  is  of  vastly  more  worth 
and  import  than  what  he  knows ;  that  it  is  not 
his  knowledge,  his  eloquence,  his  tact  and  skill, 
which  are  the /true  educational  forces,  but  him- 
self, his  minfl,  his  character,  his  will.  If  the 
young  are  to  be  led  to  yearn  for  learning,  and 
to  become  self-active  in  the  pursuit  of  excel- 
lence, his  personality  more  than  his  words  must 
be  their  inspiration  and  guide.  If  in  the  mat- 
ter of  education  they  are  to  be  believers,  and 
not  infidels,  their  faith  must  be  fed  and  sus- 
tained by  his  own.  If  he  hopes  to  inspire 


214  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

them  with  high  and  generous  sentiments,  he 
must  trust  to  his  life,  rather  than  to  his  words. 
Truth  and  goodness  are  life,  and  they  propagate 
themselves  only  through  the  lives  of  those  in 
whom  they  have  become  incorporate.  The 
believer  makes  believers,  the  striver  makes 
strivers,  the  lover  makes  lovers.  The  orator,  it 
was  said  of  old,  is  a  good  man  who  is  skilful 
in  speech.  The  educator,  we  may  say,  is  a  good 
man  who  loves  human  perfection,  and  who  with 
faith  and  hope  and  tender  patience  labors  to 
bring  it  forth  in  himself  and  in  his  disciples. 
He  must  be  a  genuine  believer  in  education,  in 
its  power  to  uplift  and  transform  men.  He 
must  cherish  it  for  this  power,  that  is,  for  itself; 
and  unless  he  work  in  this  spirit,  he  may  be  a 
trainer,  but  not  an  educator. 

The  question  of  education  is  much  simpler 
than  we  imagine,  and  most  of  what  is  written 
and  spoken  on  the  subject  serves  but  to  obscure 
that  which  is  plain.  Its  object  is  to  produce 
vigor  and  activity  of  body,  mind,  and  conscience. 
To  this  end  the  whole  process  of  teaching  and 
discipline  should  be  made  subservient.  In  the 
primary  stage,  up  to  the  age  of  fourteen,  the 
leading  idea  should  be  nutrition  of  feeling. 
Help  the  child  to  see  and  hear  and  feel ;  to 
wonder,  admire,  and  revere ;  to  believe,  hope, 
and  love.  The  whole  material  world  lies  open 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL.       21$ 

for  those  who  know  how  to  look  and  listen; 
awe,  admiration,  and  reverence  are  elementary 
feelings  which  touch  the  source  of  all  higher 
life ;  faith,  hope,  and  love  are  the  living  waters 
wherein  young  souls  delight  to  bathe.  Power 
of  believing  is  the  measure  of  human  power. 
Israel  believed  in  God,  Greece  in  culture,  Rome 
in  law,  more  than  any  other  people  that  has 
existed ;  and  for  this  reason  they  have  played 
the  chief  roles  in  the  history  of  the  race,  and  are 
still  alive  wherever  men  think  and  strive  for 
better  things.  In  the  real  sense  of  the  word, 
truth  is  never  learned  at  school;  but  minds 
rightly  educated  there,  learn  it  later  through 
their  own  self-activity  and  through  experience  of 
life.  Whatever  the  child  is  taught,  whether  it 
be  reading  or  writing  or  arithmetic,  or  some- 
thing else,  has  educational  value  only  in  as  much 
as  it  rouses  and  develops  his  spiritual  nature. 
There  is  no  abstract  education  as  there  is  no 
abstract  love.  It  is  a  process  of  life,  a  contact 
of  living  beings,  acting  and  reacting  upon  one 
another.  We  may  train  a  child  as  we  train  an 
animal,  but  when  our  work  is  done,  we  have  only 
a  trained  animal.  If  we  would  make  him  a  man, 
we  must  teach  him  to  look  and  listen,  to  admire 
and  revere,  to  think  and  will  and  love.  Far 
more  depends  on  what  we  love  and  what  we 
hate,  on  what  we  hope  and  believe,  admire  and 


2l6  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

revere,  than  on  what  we  think  and  know.  Edu- 
cation itself  is  promoted  by  willing  rather  than 
by  knowing.  He  who  has  a  live  steadfast  will 
to  learn  and  love  whatever  is  high  and  true  and 
good  and  fair,  has  within  himself  the  principle 
and  power  from  which  education  proceeds  ;  and 
they  who  rouse  and  strengthen  the  will  to  strive 
through  a  lifetime  for  truth  and  justice  and 
freedom  and  light,  alone  deserve  the  name  of 
teachers.  How  can  we  will  that  of  which  we 
are  ignorant?  Through  faith,  through  an  in- 
stinct akin  to  that  which  leads  the  herd  to 
springs  that  lie  hidden  in  the  midst  of  deserts ; 
and  to  awaken  and  guide  this  is  the  teacher's 
great  task. 

There  are  ideas  and  sentiments  and  aims  and 
hopes,  which  are  held  to  be  true  and  good 
by  all  men.  They  lie  at  the  root  of  human 
life  and  character,  and  to  turn  from  them  in  the 
process  of  education  is  not  to  educate  but  to 
pervert  He  who  awakens  and  confirms  the 
faith  of  his  pupils  in  the  priceless  worth  of  in- 
tellectual and  moral  power  is  the  best  educator; 
for  thus  he  turns  all  their  energies  to  the  life- 
work  of  self-education.  This  is  the  highest  aim, 
for  whoever  is  self-active  in  learning  and  doing 
what  is  true  and  good  and  beautiful,  in  his 
private  as  in  his  public  life,  has  education,  and 
continues  to  educate  himself.  It  is  impossible 


THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  SCHOOL.   21 J 

to  desire  that  of  which  we  feel  no  need ;  and 
one  cannot  rouse  the  young  to  faith  in  the 
supreme  worth  of  knowledge  and  virtue  except 
by  making  them  conscious  of  their  infinite  need 
of  them.  Shall  we  hope  to  entertain  with  ac- 
counts of  the  heroic  struggles  of  the  great  and 
good  those  whose  only  idea  of  pleasure  is  sen- 
sual and  brutal?  Shall  a  prize-fighter  take  in- 
terest in  a  philosopher;  a  mammonite,  in  a 
poet?  Desire  begets  desire,  hope  inspires  hope, 
faith  creates  faith ;  and  if  the  teacher  is  to  be 
an  educator,  he  must  be  a  striver  for  knowledge 
and  virtue,  a  lover  of  human  perfection,  a 
believer  in  the  efficacy  of  rightly  directed  effort. 
Example  has  greater  educational  value  than  any 
possible  verbal  instruction,  and  a  wise,  strong, 
cheerful,  patient,  punctual,  and  loving  man  or 
woman  in  the  school  can  do  more  than  a 
consummate  orator  could  accomplish  there. 
As  the  mind  is  the  man,  so  the  teacher  is  the 
school,  the  material  structure  being  compara- 
tively unimportant.  The  greatest  educator  who 
has  appeared  on  earth  instructed  and  formed 
his  disciples  while  he  walked  along  lonely  roads, 
or  while  he  sat  by  the  well  or  on  the  hillside,  or 
while  he  stood  in  the  bow  of  a  fisherman's  boat. 
And  Socrates,  the  world-teacher  whom  we  place 
next  to  him,  taught  wherever  he  found  hearers, 
whether  on  the  street  corner  or  in  the  gymna- 


2l8  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

sium  or  on  the  public  highway.  Such  a  teacher, 
too,  was  St.  Paul,  the  great  heroic  heart 
whose  deep  and  awful  conviction  of  the  life- 
giving  and  indispensable  nature  of  truth  had 
made  him  truth's  bondsman.  Give  the  right 
man  or  the  right  woman  a  log  cabin,  and  divine 
work  shall  be  done;  place  formal  and  callous 
teachers  in  marble  palaces,  and  they  shall  be 
caught  all  the  more  hopelessly  in  the  machine 
which  destroys  life.  In  taking  visitors  through 
our  towns  we  point  with  pride  to  our  imposing 
school  buildings.  We  are  like  rich  men  who 
show  their  libraries,  that  they  may  boast  of  the 
binding  of  the  books  and  the  editions  de  luxe. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  we  should  look  not  at  the 
vessel,  but  examine  its  contents.  The  great 
house  concerns  us  little,  the  kind  of  life  found 
and  fostered  there  is  the  all  in  all,  and  of  this 
the  material  structure  can  give  us  no  proper 
conception;  or  may  I  not  say  that  these  large 
buildings,  where  five  hundred  or  a  thousand 
children  are  gathered,  are  a  hindrance  to  the 
work  of  teachers  and  pupils?  Whoever  has 
driven  through  our  Western  States  has  noticed 
the  little  schoolhouse,  standing  alone  in  the 
corner  of  a  field.  There  is  not  a  tree  to  shelter 
it,  not  a  flower  to  smile  upon  it.  The  farmer's 
barn  half  a  mile  away  is  more  finely  built,  and 
stands  on  a  more  favorable  site.  Do  he  and  his 


THE  TEACHER  AND  THE  SCHOOL.   2 19 

neighbors  give  more  thought  to  the  breeding 
and  raising  of  cattle  than  to  the  education  of 
their  children,  as  they  are  more  attentive  to  the 
strain  where  there  is  question  of  their  domestic 
animals  than  where  their  own  offspring  are  con- 
cerned? It  may  be  so.  At  all  events,  that 
little  schoolhouse,  hardly  bigger  than  a  dry- 
goods  box,  above  which  no  bough  waves, 
around  which  no  flower  blooms,  near  which  no 
brook  flows,  is  as  it  stands  there  by  the  dusty 
or  muddy  road,  in  solitude  and  nakedness, 
weather-beaten  and  discolored,  a  better  place 
for  education,  whether  we  consider  the  teacher 
or  the  pupils,  than  one  of  our  great  factory-like 
structures. 

It  is  in  the  country;  and  it  is  better,  where 
there  is  question  of  health  and  growth  of  body 
and  mind,  to  be  a  country  boy  and  to  be 
allowed  to  play  with  freedom  about  the  face  of 
nature  in  all  her  moods,  than  to  be  the  nursling 
of  a  palace  in  a  great  city,  just  as  it  is  better, 
from  the  educator's  point  of  view,  to  study  the 
habits  of  an  insect,  even,  than  to  gaze  at  the 
display  in  a  shop  window.  The  closer  we  come 
to  nature  the  nearer  we  approach  the  source 
whence  spring  life  and  truth. 

In  cities  education  is  most  difficult.  City 
populations  are  decadent,  and  would  die  out  if 
they  were  not  reinforced  from  the  country. 


220  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

There  the  home,  which  is  the  fountain-head  of 
the  life  of  a  civilized  people,  is  less  potent  and 
less  sacred.  Parental  authority  is  undermined. 
Fathers  and  mothers,  seeing  that  their  influence 
is  weakened  by  their  environment,  become  care- 
less, and  since  the  State  provides  free  schools 
they  throw  the  responsibility  for  their  children's 
education  upon  the  State,  and  flatter  themselves 
that  in  sending  them  to  school  they  have  done 
their  duty.  They,  who  are  the  true  God-ap- 
pointed teachers,  neglect  their  office,  and,  like 
all  the  neglectful  and  incompetent,  they  are 
quick  to  find  fault  with  others.  They  inculcate 
respect  for  the  school  neither  by  word  nor  ex- 
ample; and  therefore  the  authority  which  the 
State  has  assumed,  and  which  they  have  gladly 
delegated  to  it,  its  teachers  are  unable  properly 
to  exercise.  In  abandoning  the  care  of  their 
children's  education,  they  give  up  all  thought 
of  their  own.  The  primary  duties  of  the  family 
are  not  performed,  and  the  family  degenerates. 
The  children  are  idle,  unpunctual,  and  heedless. 
Their  attendance  is  irregular,  and  the  average 
for  the  school  is  low.  The  teachers  are  at  a 
disadvantage.  Their  classes  are  overcrowded ; 
they  find  neither  respect  nor  appreciation, 
and  since  they  see  that  the  parents  take  no 
genuine  interest  in  the  education  of  their  chil- 
dren, they  feel  that  they  labor  in  vain.  It  is 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL.       221 

futile  to  strive  to  awaken  a  desire  for  knowledge 
and  virtue  in  those  whom  conceit  or  callousness 
makes  self-satisfied.  They  find  it  impossible 
to  perform  their  tasks  with  glad  hearts  and 
fresh  hopes,  like  sowers  and  reapers  who  sing 
at  their  work;  and  they  must  have  exceptional 
courage  if  they  do  not  sink  to  the  level  of 
drudges  and  hirelings.  Thring  says  that  the 
life  of  many  teachers  may  be  compared  to  that 
of  a  man  digging,  knee-deep,  in  a  muddy  ditch, 
with  banks  high  enough  to  shut  out  the  land- 
scape, in  a  hot  sun,  with  a  permanent  swarm 
of  flies  and  gnats  around  his  head. 

We  are,  doubtless,  far  away  from  the  time 
when  the  pedagogue  was  a  slave,  far  from  the 
later  ages  when  he  was  paid  and  treated  no  bet- 
ter than  the  lowest  menial.  It  has,  indeed,  be- 
come the  fashion  to  extol,  in  sonorous  phrase, 
the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  teacher's 
calling.  We  recall  with  pleasure  the  names 
by  which  it  has  been  made  illustrious.  Did 
not  the  Saviour  of  men  teach  as  well  as  he 
wrought?  Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  Sen- 
eca and  Quintilian,  St.  Augustine  and  St. 
Thomas  of  Aquinas,  Bossuet  and  Fenelon,  Mil- 
ton and  Locke,  Kant  and  Hegel,  —  immortal 
names,  who  dwelt  upon  the  summits  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  power,  were  teachers.  In 
truth  all  great  men  are  teachers,  in  word  or 


222  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

deed.  The  hero,  the  saint,  the  philosopher, 
the  poet,  the  orator,  the  statesman,  the  warrior, 
whether  by  their  example  or  by  their  utter- 
ances, rouse  men  from  sluggish  and  animal  life 
to  high  thoughts  and  aims,  to  noble  sentiments 
and  resolves.  They  are  leaders  in  the  way  of 
progress,  and  from  the  heights  which  they  have 
ascended,  athwart  innumerable  obstacles,  their 
voices  ring  out  to  cheer  those  who  struggle  in 
the  plains  below. 

In  the  present  century  education  has  become 
a  science,  and  teaching  an  art  as  well  as  a  pro- 
fession. The  schoolmaster  has  risen  to  the 
rank  of  the  physician,  the  lawyer,  and  the  min- 
ister of  religion.  The  social  importance  of  his 
function  is  widely  recognized,  and  the  public,  it 
would  seem,  looks,  theoretically  at  least,  with 
more  favor  upon  him  than  upon  the  physician, 
or  the  lawyer,  or  the  minister  of  religion.  He 
is  believed  to  be  more  unquestionably  a  public 
benefactor.  He  is  a  developer  and  shaper  of 
life  and  destiny,  and,  as  Horace  Mann  says, 
"  One  right  former  is  worth  a  thousand  reform- 
ers." It  is  indeed  difficult  to  exaggerate  the 
worth  of  a  true  teacher,  of  one  who,  loving 
children  with  a  love  akin  to  that  which  glowed 
in  the  divine  heart  of  Christ,  is  wise  and 
strong,  watchful  and  patient;  who,  while  he 
awakens  and  holds  attention  is  able  to  enter  the 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL.       22$ 

child  mind  to  make  it  active  and  conscious  of 
itself  by  rousing  the  thousand  images  of  truth 
and  beauty  which  slumber  there ;  who  has  faith 
in  education,  and  knows  how  to  inspire  his 
pupils  with  a  genuine  belief  in  it,  as  the  one 
power  given  to  man  whereby  he  may  lift  him- 
self to  higher  and  higher  planes  of  life;  who, 
being  a  genuine  lover  of  human  perfection, 
strives  to  make  himself  as  well  as  them  perfect 
in  body,  mind,  and  heart.  One  who  approaches, 
even,  such  an  ideal,  would  be  God-like,  would 
be  a  glory,  not  of  his  profession  only,  but  of 
his  country  and  his  race.  The  profession  does 
not  honor  the  man,  but  the  man  the  profession ; 
nor  does  the  profession  disgrace  the  man,  but 
the  man  the  profession. 

But  lest  we  lose  ourselves  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  ideal,  let  us  descend  and  draw  closer 
to  the  facts  of  life.  No  serious  thinker  who 
has  given  attention  to  pedagogics,  will  deny  the 
importance  of  right  methods,  of  good  text- 
books, and  of  a  proper  choice  of  the  subjects 
to  be  taught,  in  the  light  of  the  relative  educa- 
tional values  of  the  different  branches  of  knowl- 
edge ;  and  if  one  should  permit  himself  to  be 
controlled  by  what  he  reads  and  hears  in  books 
and  magazines  and  meetings  devoted  to  ques- 
tions of  education,  he  would  be  led  to  believe 
that  these  and  like  matters  are  of  primary  and 


224  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

paramount  importance.  This  would  be  a  fatal 
error.  It  is,  in  fact,  an  error  as  widespread  as 
it  is  fatal,  one  which  obscures  the  central  fact, 
and  leads  away  from  vital  truth  into  quagmires 
and  quicksands.  Methods  and  other  devices 
are  mechanical,  and  machinery  is  as  powerless 
to  educate  as  to  propagate  life.  One  of  our 
worst  superstitions  is  the  belief  that  we  can 
develop,  strengthen,  and  ennoble  mankind  by 
machinery  and  by  talk  about  machinery,  and 
so  we  argue  about  it  and  about  it,  and  keep  far 
away  from  the  inner  source  from  which  all  life 
and  truth  and  goodness  proceed.  Mechanical 
minds  are  the  cause  of  half  our  woe  and  mis- 
ery, and  we  have  all  had  opportunity  to  observe 
that  they  who  most  abound  in  words  have  little 
depth  of  thought,  little  strength  of  conviction, 
little  power  of  will. 

The  teacher  is  the  school.  What  the  soul  is 
to  the  body,  what  the  mind  is  to  the  man,  that 
the  teacher  is  to  the  school.  A  good  teacher 
will  find  or  devise  good  methods,  and  will  em- 
ploy them  with  discernment,  dealing  with  each 
pupil  as  an  individual  soul,  unlike  any  other 
that  exists  or  has  existed.  His  very  presence 
commands  attention,  solicits  interest,  and  sug- 
gests thought.  He  is  alive,  and  he  awakens 
life.  His  pupils  learn  to  feel  that  it  is  good  to 
be  where  he  is,  and  they  follow  him  as  gladly 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL.       22$ 

as  though  he  led  them  into  the  balmy  air  of 
spring  along  the  flowery  banks  of  limpid 
streams. 

The  question  of  education  is  a  question  of 
teachers ;  and  the  problem  to  be  solved  is  how 
to  induce  the  best  men  and  women  to  become 
schoolmasters  and  schoolmistresses ;  for  such 
men  and  women  alone  can  do  good  work, 
whether  in  primary  schools  or  in  colleges  or  in 
universities.  They  are  as  indispensable  for  the 
child  who  is  learning  to  read  and  write  as  for 
the  youth  who  is  studying  science  and  phi- 
losophy. In  every  stage  of  the  educational 
process  development  of  faculty,  strength,  and 
skill  are  the  object,  while  knowledge  is  second- 
ary. The  teacher  must  know  how  to  deal  with 
human  minds,  and  his  chief  concern,  therefore, 
can  never  be  with  imparting  anything  to  them, 
however  valuable  it  be,  but  his  study  must  be 
how  to  open  them  to  the  light,  how  to  give 
them  flexibility,  how  to  make  them  attentive 
and  self-active.  His  work  is  a  wrestling  of 
mind  with  mind,  and  of  heart  with  heart ;  and 
if  he  simply  drills  his  class  as  a  whole  he 
fails  as  a  teacher.  He  is  a  trainer  and  not  an 
educator. 

If  the  teacher's  labor  is  important  and  sa- 
cred, his  task  is  severe,  his  calling  hard.  To 
remain  vigilant  and  alert,  hour  after  hour,  day 
15 


226  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

after  day,  for  months  at  a  time,  is  wearying  and 
exhausting.  To  be  always  in  active  contact 
with  crude  minds,  some  of  whom,  whether  from 
inheritance  or  from  neglect  and  vicious  habits, 
are  almost  uneducable,  wears  the  nerves  and 
puts  one's  powers  of  patience  and  endurance  to 
the  test.  In  the  midst  of  such  an  environment 
the  fire  of  enthusiasm  goes  out  and  freshness 
of  spirit  is  lost.  The  lawyer,  the  physician, 
and  the  minister  of  religion  are  less  constantly 
occupied ;  their  time  is  more  their  own,  they 
work  in  a  wider  field,  they  are  cheered  by 
brighter  prospects,  they  are  more  in  the  public 
eye,  more  sure  of  recognition  and  appreciation, 
are  better  protected  from  insolence  and  con- 
tumely, and  their  labors  are  better  paid.  It  is 
needless  to  speak  of  the  more  enticing  allure- 
ments which  trade  and  commerce  offer.  How, 
in  the  face  of  all  this,  shall  we  hope  that  the 
most  aspiring,  the  most  active,  and  the  most 
capable  minds  among  our  young  men  and  young 
women  will  choose  teaching  as  their  calling? 
If  we  except  a  few  eager  and  brilliant  natures 
who  will  climb  and  sparkle,  whatever  their  oc- 
cupation or  profession  may  be,  what  hope  of 
advancement  is  there  for  the  tens  of  thousands 
of  the  teachers  of  our  common  schools?  Or 
if  advancement  is  possible,  is  it  not  so  uncer- 
tain or  so  slow  or  so  inconsiderable  that  it  stirs 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL.       22/ 

no  glad  anticipations?  Teachers,  like  all  of  us, 
must  live  on  hope,  and  if  their  calling  gives 
them  little  nourishment  for  hope  they  will  look 
away  from  it  to  some  more  promising  source  of 
joy  and  happiness.  Teaching  will  not  be  fol- 
lowed as  a  vocation,  as  a  life-work,  but  as  an 
expedient.  Why  is  there  an  almost  total  lack 
of  male  teachers  in  our  primary  schools?  Is 
it  not  because  young  men  understand  that  while 
the  teacher's  task  is  severe  and  ungrateful,  his 
reward  of  whatever  kind  is  smaller  than  that  of 
other  professional  men,  insignificant,  if  com- 
pared with  what  he  might  expect  in  becoming 
a  politician  or  a  merchant  or  a  banker?  Why 
are  nine-tenths  of  the  teachers  in  the  primary 
schools  women?  Is  it  not  because  they,  being 
either  shut  out  from  the  other  professions  or 
finding  access  to  them  very  difficult,  and  being 
unable  for  the  most  part  to  become  politicians 
or  merchants  or  bankers,  are  driven  by  the 
force  of  circumstances  into  the  schools?  And 
then,  though  their  salaries  are  small,  they  earn 
better  wages  as  teachers  than  they  would  re- 
ceive for  most  other  kinds  of  work  which 
women  do.  Women  rarely  get  the  same  pay 
as  men  for  the  same  work.  This  doubtless  is 
chiefly  due  to  their  exclusion  from  so  many 
occupations,  which  results  in  an  over-supply 
wherever  there  is  a  demand  for  their  work. 


228  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  the  fact  is  that  in 
the  fields  in  which  large  numbers  of  women  are 
employed,  labor  is  cheap ;  and  it  is  the  cheap- 
ness of  their  labor,  and  not  their  superiority  as 
teachers,  which  makes  competition  with  them 
for  positions  in  our  primary  schools  so  difficult. 
That  this  is  a  very  grave  evil  is  obvious.  They 
who  are  content  to  accept  cheap  work  in  the 
school  can  have  no  idea  of  the  meaning  of 
education.  They  would  degrade  it  to  a  me- 
chanical process,  and  imagine  that  the  teacher 
does  his  whole  duty  when  he  makes  his  pupils 
learn  to  read  and  write,  and  gives  them  some 
knowledge  of  arithmetic,  geography,  and  his- 
tory. They  believe  that  those  who  pass  an 
examination  and  show  that  they  know  enough 
to  do  this  are  worthy  to  be  intrusted  with  the 
teacher's  office.  They  fail  to  see  that  the  im- 
portant thing  in  the  primary,  as  in  every  other 
school,  is  not  what  the  child  learns,  but  devel- 
opment of  faculty  and  acquisition  of  habits.  If 
he  is  made  active  in  his  spiritual  nature,  his 
mind  will  become  supple  and  vigorous  as  the 
body  is  made  supple  and  vigorous  by  exercise. 
Being  makes  action  possible,  and  the  kind  of 
being  determines  the  kind  of  action.  The  in- 
tellectually active  alone  can  rouse  the  intellect, 
the  morally  active  the  conscience,  the  reli- 
giously active  the  soul.  The  lower  cannot  call 


THE    TEACHER  AND   THE  SCHOOL.       229 

forth  the  higher.  He  who  is  not  a  thinker  can- 
not make  others  think,  who  is  not  a  lover  can- 
not make  others  love,  who  is  not  a  doer  cannot 
make  others  do.  A  liar  cannot  teach  truth,  nor 
a  boor  gentlemanlike  behavior.  If  we  are  to 
have  good  schools  we  must  fill  our  homes  of 
education  with  such  men  and  women  as  we 
desire  our  children  to  become. 

The  teacher's  personality  far  more  than  his 
learning  determines  his  value  as  an  educator. 
The  very  presence  of  a  brave,  noble,  generous, 
and  cheerful  man  illumines  and  strengthens. 
He  compels  recognition  and  obedience  though 
he  neither  speak  nor  command,  and  they  who 
have  known  him  never  lose  faith  in  human 
nature,  or  in  the  worth  of  knowledge  and 
virtue. 

The  ideal,  to  have  educational  power,  must  | 
gleam  through  the  concrete.  The  ethical  ideal 
is  the  ideally  ethical  man,  the  intellectual  ideal, 
the  ideally  intellectual  man,  the  religious  ideal, 
the  ideally  religious  man.  If  we  would  move 
and  influence  the  young  in  a  profound  and 
lasting  way,  let  us  acquaint  them  with  the  ideal 
incarnate  in  the  persons  of  the  teachers  whom 
we  place  over  them.  But  how  shall  we  hope  to 
make  approach  to  this  end,  if  we  look  upon  the 
teacher  as  a  piece  of  mechanism  whose  cheap- 
ness is  an  important  consideration? 


230  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

All  schemes,  plans,  systems,  and  methods 
prove  futile  in  the  hands  of  the  incompetent. 
Inferior  teachers  make  inferior  schools.  An 
educated  man  is  never  boastful,  nor  is  an  edu- 
cated people;  but  if  we  must  extol  ourselves, 
let  us  remember  that  hitherto  the  school  has 
been  but  an  incidental  factor  in  our  progress. 
Much  of  it  is  due  to  the  spirit  of  our  race,  much 
to  our  Christian  homes,  much  to  the  churches, 
much  to  the  conditions  of  a  new  country,  in 
which  freedom  and  unlimited  opportunity  stim- 
ulate to  self-activity,  much  to  the  fact  that  the 
young  and  the  enterprising  have  for  more  than 
half  a  century  been  coming  from  Europe  in 
multitudes  to  our  shores.  Professor  Laurie, 
who  is  a  competent  and  an  impartial  judge, 
says :  "  America  is  an  uneducated  country  as  we 
now  understand  education.  It  possesses  no 
national  system ;  it  has  not  even  the  machinery 
whereby  education  could  be  given  in  the  sense  in 
which  it  is  given  in  Great  Britain  or  Germany." 
Listen  to  the  conversation  which  one  may  hear 
on  the  street  or  in  the  cars,  read  the  newspapers 
of  our  towns  and  of  some  of  our  great  cities 
even,  and  it  will  be  difficult  to  deny  that  there 
is  at  least  a  degree  of  truth  in  this  assertion. 
Corrupt  and  incorrect  language  means  that  there 
is  no  education  or  a  faulty  education.  Debased 
speech  is  evidence  of  debased  mind.  Inaccuracy 


THE    TEACHER  AND    THE  SCHOOL. 

proves  that  the  powers  of  attention  and  obser- 
vation, which  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  school  to 
cultivate,  are  undeveloped.  The  lack  of  patience, 
of  perseverance,  of  faith  in  the  power  of  obsti- 
nate and  long-continued  effort  to  transform  one's 
being,  the  absence  of  the  nobler  kinds  of  am- 
bition, in  our  young  men  especially,  are  proof 
that  in  the  school  their  higher  nature  has  not 
been  touched  and  made  self-active. 

It  is  a  happy  omen  when  the  best  minds  in  a 
nation  occupy  themselves  seriously  with  ques- 
tions of  education.  This  is  what  happened  in 
Germany  at  the  close  of  the  last,  and  in  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century.  Kant, 
Goethe,  Fichte,  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,  Rich- 
ter,  Krause,  Herbart,  and  other  men  of  genius 
or  talent  threw  themselves  into  the  subject 
with  enthusiastic  zeal  and  confidence.  The 
result  was  a  reawakening  of  the  people,  a  rebirth 
of  the  national  spirit,  and  a  general  desire  for 
broader  and  deeper  culture. 

With  us  the  school  question  seems  to  be  a 
matter  of  interest  chiefly  to  declaimers  and 
politicians,  who  make  it  a  popular  cry  wherewith 
to  drown  the  voices  of  earnest  and  enlightened 
thinkers.  They  rally  round  the  little  school- 
house,  plant  the  flag  on  it,  and,  like  Barbara 
Frietchie,  look  out  the  window  expecting  to  see 
the  waving  of  rebel  banners  and  to  hear  the 


232  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

tread  of  armed  hosts  marching  to  its  destruction. 
They  are  clowns  who  play  to  the  rabble,  or 
selfish  and  designing  men,  who  make  use  of 
shibboleths,  to  discredit  and  ruin  their  compa- 
triots and  fellow  citizens.  When  educated  and 
serious  men,  who  strive  to  see  things  as  they 
are,  as  all  cultivated  minds  must  strive  to  get 
real  views  of  whatever  they  contemplate,  utter 
their  honest  opinions  on  this  subject,  a  clamor 
is  raised  against  them,  which  would  be  of  small 
account,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  it  tends  to 
make  the  calm  and  enlightened  discussion  of 
this,  our  greatest  national  problem,  difficult  and 
ineffectual.  Our  public  thought  crystallizes  in 
the  mould  of  party  and  sect  and  clique  and 
faction,  and  they  who  refuse  to  narrow  their 
minds,  but  resolutely  believe  that  it  is  possible 
to  live  in  the  wide  and  tranquil  realms  of  truth, 
appear  to  be  visionary  and  idle,  or  even  per- 
verse. Original  and  profound  thinkers  are  rare 
among  us,  because  our  ablest  men  are  consumed 
by  politics  and  business,  or  driven  into  the  noise 
and  confusion  of  endless  controversy,  or  sacri- 
ficed to  one  or  the  other  of  our  many  schemes 
for  reforming  the  world  and  doing  away  with  all 
evil. 

It  is  Emerson,  I  think,  who  said  that  he 
would  cross  the  ocean  to  talk  with  one  great 
man  rather  than  to  see  all  the  monuments  and 


THE    TEACHER  AND   THE  SCHOOL.       233 

the  treasures  of  art  of  Europe.  Life  is  the  sub- 
ject of  supreme  interest.  Everything  depends 
on  power  and  quality  of  life.  The  school,  how- 
ever perfect  the  system,  however  admirable  the 
devices,  can  do  the  best  work  only  when  it  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  best  men  and  women.  Educa- 
tion is,  in  a  word,  the  stimulation  of  life,  the 
rousing  of  endowments  to  the  activity  which 
produces  faculty.  As  life  proceeds  from  life,  so 
life  is  developed  by  life,  and  the  kind  of  devel- 
opment depends  chiefly  upon  the  kind  of  life 
by  which  it  is  promoted.  The  problem  which 
most  deserves  the  serious  meditation  of  the 
lovers  of  human  protection,  who  are  also  neces- 
sarily lovers  of  God  and  country,  is  how  to 
make  the  teacher's  calling  attractive  to  the  men 
and  the  women  who  possess  in  a  high  degree 
power  and  quality  of  life,  —  so  attractive  as  to  be 
followed  as  a  life-work,  and  not  taken  up  as  an 
expedient  until  something  more  pleasant,  or 
more  secure,  or  more  lucrative  is  offered.  How 
this  may  best  be  done  is  a  subject  which  will  be 
found  more  and  more  worthy  of  deliberation  in 
these  annual  meetings  of  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association.  Its  appellation  is  a  good 
omen,  for  it  implies  that  our  school  system 
should  be  a  national  system.  A  national  system 
would  enable  us  to  remove  the  schools  from  the 
tainted  air  of  politics,  it  would  raise  the  standard 


234  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION. 

of  the  teacher's  profession,  it  would  make  his 
position  more  secure,  and  the  recognition  of  his 
work  more  certain.  It  is  said  that  a  people  has 
the  government  which  it  deserves.  Let  us, 
coming  down  to  a  lower  plane,  content  ourselves 
with  affirming  that  a  school  board  has  the 
teachers  whom  it  deserves.  Would  the  directors 
cross,  not  the  ocean,  but  the  township  or  the 
county  line  in  search  of  a  real  teacher?  If  it 
takes  a  hero  to  know  a  hero,  it  takes  an  educa- 
tor, or  at  least  an  educated  man  or  woman,  to 
know  an  educator.  Inferior  teaching  in  the 
primary  schools  implies  inferior  education  for 
the  masses  of  the  people,  and  for  those  even 
who  enter  the  colleges  and  the  universities. 
School  barracks  which  contain  five  hundred  or 
a  thousand  pupils,  with  class  rooms  into  which 
sixty  or  eighty  children  are  crowded,  are  not 
places  of  education,  but  places  of  repression, 
confusion,  and  perversion.  In  such  environ- 
ment neither  the  teachers  nor  the  learners  can 
do  good  work.  There  is  no  indifferent  school ; 
the  school  is  good  or  bad,  it  improves  or 
perverts. 

Another  matter  which  deserves  attention  is 
the  number  of  school  hours.  Not  length  of 
time,  but  intensity  of  application,  is  the  impor- 
tant thing  in  all  spiritual  effort,  and  to  attempt 
to  do  mental  work  when  one  is  mentally 


THE    TEACHER  AND   THE  SCHOOL.      235 

weary,  is  not  merely  useless,  but  hurtful.  Study 
prospers  only  when  the  mind  is  vigorous  and 
the  heart  fresh.  Tired  children  exhaust  the 
teacher,  as  a  dull  and  heavy  teacher  wearies  the 
class.  The  young  are  most  sensitive  to  fatigue 
of  mind,  and  if  kept  too  long  in  the  class-room, 
they  become  inattentive,  indifferent,  and  careless, 
and  a  distaste  for  study  and  a  dislike  for  the 
school  and  the  teacher  grows  upon  them.  A 
real  teacher  will  accomplish  more  in  four  hours 
than  he  could  accomplish  in  six.  His  pupils 
will  come  to  school  with  glad  hearts,  will  apply 
themselves  industriously,  and  will  not  leave  the 
class-room  like  released  prisoners.  Plato  found 
an  argument  for  the  belief  that  our  souls  have 
lived  in  other  worlds,  in  the  quickness  and 
eagerness  with  which  the  boys  of  Athens 
learned.  If  we  would  labor  effectively  to  de- 
velop a  nobler  race  of  men  here  in  America,  let 
us  work  for  the  teachers,  let  us  strive  to  raise 
the  standard  of  their  professional  life,  to 
render  their  position  more  secure,  their  task 
more  pleasant,  their  reward  greater  and  more 
certain,  that  the  teacher's  calling  may  appeal 
not  to  the  most  active  and  intelligent  young 
women  alone,  but  to  the  most  active  and  intelli- 
gent young  men  as  well.  Then,  indeed,  shall 
the  boys  and  the  girls  of  America  learn  with 
quickness  and  eagerness,  and  when  they  quit 


236  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION-. 

the  school,  they  shall  quit  it  as  true  lovers  of 
intellectual  and  moral  power,  who  are  re- 
solved to  spend  a  lifetime  in  unfolding  and 
upbuilding  their  own  being  and  in  helping 
their  fellovvmen. 


THE  END. 


By  RT.  REV.  J.  L.  SPALDING. 


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